Article 370: Pakistan terminates Dosti bus service
Islamabad, Aug 10 (IBNS/UNI): A day after terminating the Thar and Samjhauta Express services, Pakistan on Saturday suspended its long-running 'Dosti' Bus Service, officially known as 'Sada-e-Sarhad'.
The decision comes in the wake of the revoking of Article 370 by the Indian Government that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
"In line with the decisions of NSC (National Security Committee) Pak-India bus service is suspended," Pakistan Minister of State for Communications Murad Saeed said in a tweet.
In line with the decisions of NSC Pak-India bus service is suspended.
— Murad Saeed (@MuradSaeedPTI) August 9, 2019
In its inaugural run on Feb 19, 1999, the bus carried the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was to attend a summit in Lahore and was received by his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif at Wagah.
The bus service was first suspended after the 2001 Parliament attack in India and was restarted in July 2003.
Pakistan Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed announced on Friday that the government had decided to close down Thar Express — the train service running between Khokhrapar (Pakistan) and Munabao (India). The last train departed for India on Friday night.
It was the second train service between Pakistan and India to be suspended after Samjhauta Express was shut down on Thursday.
Thar Express runs from Karachi to Zero Point via Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas every Friday and every Saturday from Zero Point.
The Dawn quoted railways minister saying that Samjhauta Express and Thar Express would remain suspended and there was no chance of them being restored in near future.
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