Delhi-Lahore bus service to resume

The Indian government has also decided to release 70 Pakistani fishermen and 60 civilian prisoners from Indian custody.

Foreign ministry officials said the decision was taken to improve people-to-people contact between the two countries.

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"Accordingly, the Government of India has today approved the resumption of the Delhi-Lahore bus service, on a twice-weekly basis, as soon as details have been worked out by the technical authorities of the two countries," the ministry said in a statement.

"The Government of India has also decided to release 70 Pakistani fishermen and 60 civilian prisoners presently in Indian custody. They would be transferred as soon as Pakistan indicates it is ready to accept them."

The Delhi-Lahore bus service was closed down in December 2001 following an attack on the Indian parliament that New Delhi said was masterminded by Pakistani intelligence agencies. Pakistan has denied the charges.

Following the attack, the South Asian rivals deployed nearly a million troops on their common border and were on the verge of war.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours eased after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan last month.

The two countries have announced a resumption of air and diplomatic links but no date for bilateral dialogue, suspended 17 months ago, has yet been set.

The bus service began auspiciously in 1999 with an historic ride by Vajpayee in a peace and goodwill gesture that inaugurated the first bus service of its kind to Pakistan since independence.

Analysts expect India and Pakistan to take a series of confidence-building measures before a comprehensive peace dialogue gets rolling, including discussions over Kashmir, the scenic Himalayan region claimed by both.

India accuses Pakistan of fomenting a 13-year insurgency against its rule in Kashmir, terming it "cross-border terrorism." Islamabad says it only gives moral and diplomatic support to an "indigenous" movement.

In the past, India had rejected any possibility of talks with Pakistan until cross-border infiltration of militants ended in the Indian zone of Kashmir.

PTI adds: India is confident that a conducive atmosphere will be created for talks with Pakistan, but for a meaningful dialogue cross-border terrorism should end and the terrorism infrastructure there should be dismantled, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Tuesday.