New Delhi, Dec 01: After a gap of two years, India and Pakistan today agreed to restore from January 1 direct and over flights, suspended after the December 13 attack on Parliament. The decision to resume air links was taken after a four-hour long meeting between civil aviation officials of the two countries, Director General Civil Aviation Satinder Singh Said. A joint statement issued after the meeting said "the two sides agreed to resume simultaneous air links and over flights with effect from january one, 2004 on a reciprocal basis."

The statement, which comes a day after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf announced Islamabad's decision to lift the ban on Indian flights over its airspace and to restore air links, said the agreement completed the operationalisation of the proposal made by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in May this year for resumption of civil aviation links between the two countries.

Bureau Report