Index Page                                              Archives

Amritsar-Lahore bus service trial put off
by Bhadran Nair

    New Delhi: The Government of India on Friday announced that the trail run of the bus service between Amritsar and Lahore, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday (October 15) has been postponed indefinitely in view of the devastation caused by the October 8 earthquake in both Pakistan and India. A Ministry of External Affairs spokesman also said that the preliminary discussions for activating the bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib, which was scheduled to take place on October 25 and 26, has also been postponed to a more suitable date. Commenting on the second consignment of relief supplies sent for quake victims in Pakistan, the spokesman of the ministry said that the train was carrying 68 tonnes of relief goods, instead of the 82-tonnes as mentioned earlier. The consignment included 5000 blankets, 320 tents, 4.5 tonnes of plastic sheets and 12 tonnes of medicines. He said that it had left the Shakurbasti Railway Station at 10.45 a.m. this morning and would reach Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah railway route in Punjab.

     The spokesman also said that a third consignment of relief goods would be sent to Pakistan soon, and these would include medicines and food articles. Earlier, 25 tonnes of relief supplies, including seven trucks of medicines was sent as relief by an Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76 MD transport plane on Wednesday. It was the first Indian aid- related plane to land in Pakistan after the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. Aid continues to pour in from across the world after Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf personally went on air to solicit international help in terms of medicines, blankets, tents and helicopters to cope with what he called the country s "biggest tragedy".

      Musharraf has expressed gratitude to the international community, including India, for the help extended to his country in its hour of crisis. "Prime Minister Singh was very kind to ring me up and offer all possible assistance," Musharraf said, adding "we express our gratitude to him and we have accepted Indian aid in certain forms." U.S. President George W. Bush has also praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for taking the initiative to help Pakistan with relief materials. The October 8 earthquake measuring between 7.4 and 7.6 on the Richter Scale and followed by several aftershocks, with its epicentre near Muzaffarabad, has claimed the lives of close to 25,000 people in Pakistan and about 1300 on the Indian side of Kashmir. Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to deny that Indian soldiers had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan-administered Kashmir to help Pakistani troops rebuild their bunkers. The Pakistan defence spokesperson Major General Shaukat Sultan has termed the reports as fabricated.

References: India Travel Times, News, New York Times headlines, Hotels, Airlines, Indian, Tourism, Tourist, Tour, Ayurveda, Yoga, Hotel, quake relief for pakistan, indian tents, aftershocks kashmir, quake media, muzaffarabad, amritsar lahore bus, quake-proof houses, american choppers quake-hit, nanavati panel, bengal foreign investment: buddha, nirbhay gujjar, bangladesh threat, sensex , cheap computers, kerala pacer s sreesanth lanka series, aniston cox pitt, sylvester stallone rocky balboa, rolling stones, madonna, paris hilton,