Pakistan stops Delhi-Lahore 'dosti' at Wagah border citing security threats

New Delhi: The Delhi-Lahore bus service has been restricted to the Wagah border due to a terror threat. While Pakistan has cited “security threats” to the bus service restricting it to the Wagah border, the Indian intelligence agencies also have inputs that the bus service maybe targeted by terror outfits. The alert also warned of similar terror threats to the Samjhauta Express.

In New Delhi, officials said passengers travelling to Lahore from India will have to disembark at Wagah and switch buses to take local transport in that country while those travelling from Lahore to New Delhi and Amritsar will now have to disembark at Attari to catch a bus on the Indian side.

Pakistan’s move to restrict the bus service to Wagah is being viewed by the Indian security brass as a fall-out of the series of threats being posed by the terror groups in that country and a visibly weakened security scenario existing in that country.

India on Wednesday hoped that the “temporary aberration” would be sorted out to enable the ‘dosti’ service to resume. “We hope that it would ply in accordance with their vision and if there are temporary aberrations, we hope these will be sorted,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said.