Dosti Bus carrying 21 passengers leave for New Delhi
Pakistan had suspended Lahore-Delhi Dosti bus service on India's request due to protests in Haryana.
LAHORE (Web Desk / Reuters) – Dosti Bus carrying at least 21 passengers has left for New Delhi today (Wednesday) after getting clearance from the Indian government, Dunya News reported.
On Sunday, Pakistan had suspended Lahore-Delhi Dosti or friendship bus service indefinitely at India’s request in the wake of violence and arson in Jat agitation in Haryana.
Since the bus service began in March 1999, the Pakistan police has escorted the Dosti buses from Wagah to Lahore‘s Gulberg and Nankana Sahib terminals. And also the buses from these places to Wagah.
The bus service resumed today a day after members of a rural Indian caste reached a deal late to end their protests that paralyzed the north Indian state of Haryana and cut water supplies to Delhi’s 20 million residents.
A Jat community leader said protesters had reached an accord with state and federal leaders and would clear road blockades and end their agitation, in which 16 people have been killed and more than 150 injured.
"The government has promised to meet our demands and we have promised our full cooperation," Ramesh Dalal, convener of the Jat Arakshan Andolan (Jat Reservation Movement), told Reuters.
Dalal said he had appealed to the entire Jat community, which makes up around a quarter of the population of Haryana, to return home after staging state-wide protests to demand more government jobs and college places.
A senior police officer said that state leaders had persuaded the Jats to call off their protests. "Our challenge is to keep the law and order situation under control," the officer said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Days of rioting and looting by Jats had challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of better days for Indians who elected him in 2014 with the largest majority in three decades.
