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Pakistani and Afghanistani authorities agreed to initiate the bus service between Peshawar in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, The Express Tribune reported.
According to the Pakistan daily citing the sources and documents, the decision was taken in a meeting of the Afghanistan International Coordination Cell, which aimed at resolving the issues between the two countries. The sources said the communications ministries of the two countries had given the go-ahead for the service, agreeing in principle that initially, 15 to 20-seater buses would ply the route. According to the sources at The Express Tribune, both sides finalised the agreements for the bus service in their respective areas. In this regard, Pakistan would establish a bus terminal at the Torkham border point and Afghanistan in Jalalabad. "The decision to allow overland travel between the two countries has been taken in view of the difficulties in air travel," a source privy to the developments told The Express Tribune. "Since the return of the Taliban government, air travel has become difficult." According to the documents, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) issued a notification for the establishment of an international bus service terminal in Torkham. In this regard, space has been allocated opposite the Basic Health Unit (BHU). Recently, Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Friday accused Jamatul Ahrar group of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of planning the Peshawar line attack in Afghanistan, ARY news reported. The powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar's Police Line area on January 30 during Zuhr prayers, killing over 100 people and injuring 235 others, mostly police officers. CTD Peshawar additional IG Shaukat Abbas while addressing a press conference, said the mastermind of the Peshawar blast has been traced. Ghaffar aka Salman was the mastermind of the suicide attack, who was in contact with the suicide bomber "Qari", the CTD official said and added they have also traced the name of the facilitator, which will not be revealed due to security issues, ARY News reported. According to Abbas, the CTD arrested another terrorist involved in the Peshawar Lines blast named Imtiaz who remained under training in Afghanistan's province of Kunduz. "Imtiaz was also a suicide bomber who had to blow himself up in case of Qari's failure." (ANI)
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