Islamabad, June 24: Pakistan and India will resume bi-weekly bus services in late July or early August, Tourism Minister Raees Munir Ahmed said today, citing visa and security issues as the causes of the delay. "An agreement has already been concluded with the Indian transport officials in talks at New Delhi last week but the service could only start after visa and security related issues are settled," the minister told reporters.

"We are confident that the bus service will start plying as soon as these matters are resolved," he said, adding the service could reopen late next month or in early August.

Transport officials from both countries agreed in principle to resume the stalled bus service between New Delhi and Lahore from July 1, at a meeting in New Delhi on Friday. Leader of the Pakistani delegation, Azfar Shafqat, said: "The tentative date for restarting the service is July 1." His Indian counterpart, A J S Sahney, added: "It depends on how soon the crew on both sides get visas."

Ahmed said Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali had been asked to inaugurate the service, which started in 1999 but was stopped after a militant attack on India's Parliament in December 2001.

"We have received a request from India for opening technical level talks for the resumption of civil aviation and air links," foreign ministry spokesman Khalid Masood told a news agency. Bureau Report