Islamabad, Jan 11: India and Pakistan are set to renew their bilateral agreement to run the Lahore-Delhi-Lahore bus service by another five years as a high-level Indian delegation arrives here tomorrow to sign the accord on its extension. The Indian delegation headed by A J S Sahney, chairman and managing director of Delhi Transport Corporation, would hold two technical-level talks with his Pakistani counterpart Malik Mohammad Habib Khan, managing director of PTDC, on extending the bus service upto 2008. The talks would begin on January 13 and the Indian delegation is scheduled to return on January 18.

Keeping in view the thaw in relations between Pakistan and India, the two governments have decided to further extend the protocol.
The extension of the agreement was discussed today by PTDC officials with Pakistan Minster of State for Culture and Tourism, Raees Munir Ahmed.

The first agreement on the bus service was signed between India and Pakistan on February 17, 1999 for a period of five years in order to facilitate the general public travelling between the two countries by road, and the accord is due to expire on February 16 next.

The bus service was resumed in July last year after it was stopped in December 2001 following terrorist attack on Indian Parliament.
Bureau Report