On peace route, bus to Lahore will run again

According to a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs, the bus service, suspended after the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament, will resume as soon as technical authorities of the two countries work out the details.

The Government also decided to free 70 Pakistani fishermen and 60 civilian prisoners in Indian custody. They will be sent back as soon as Islamabad is ready to accept them.

PTI reports from Islamabad: Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid described New Delhi’s announcement as a ‘‘positive gesture’’ and expressed the hope that this would lead to full restoration of transport links between the two countries and revival of sustained dialogue to resolve bilateral issues.

Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar, who’s in Islamabad to participate in a seminar, said Vajpayee was serious about normalising relations with Pakistan. He suggested uninterrupted talks between New Delhi and Islamabad to resolve all outstanding issues. Aiyar had a luncheon meeting with Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri and other officials.

New Delhi’s announcement came on the eve of Vajpayee’s visit to Germany, St Petersburg (Russia) and France during which he will meet several world leaders, including US President George Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

During his week-long trip, Vajpayee is expected to brief the leaders on the steps taken by India to improve ties with Pakistan and the need for Islamabad to permanently end cross-border terrorism to help create an atmosphere for resumption of bilateral dialogue.

A Reuters report from London on Monday quoted Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha as telling Britain’s Financial Times that India will not demand a complete halt to cross-border strikes before talks can begin on normalising ties with Pakistan. He described a halt to attacks as a pre-condition of a ‘‘successful outcome’’ to the talks, but not a requirement before talks can begin.

‘‘If this was a pre-condition then Vajpayee would not have extended the ‘hand of friendship’ to Pakistan last month,’’ the paper quoted Sinha as saying. ‘‘But for the dialogue to succeed, it is essential that cross-border terrorism comes to an end.’’

Sinha suggested India could accept that Pakistan may not control all militants, provided Delhi was satisfied that Islamabad was reining in groups it did control.

‘‘If there are elements which are outside their control and which are crossing the LoC despite their best efforts to stop them, then we should cooperate with each other to curb their activities,’’ he told the Financial Times.

‘‘It would be a simple thing. They get information that such and such group has escaped their net… we have channels of communication through which such information can be passed.’’