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PM to flag off Nankana Sahib bus on Friday
Tight security arrangements have been made for the two-day visit of Manmohan to Amritsar.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the first bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on Friday.
The first bus will be flagged off from the Ranjit Avenue in Amritsar on Friday morning.
Most of the passengers on the bus would be officials, mediapersons and religious leaders.
Tight security arrangements had been made for the two-day visit of the prime minister to the city from Thursday.
The flag-off of the bus had been postponed twice during the past one month.
There had been a long-standing demand for a bus service from Amritsar to the shrine in Pakistan as hundreds of Sikhs and others visited the Nankana Sahib every year on religious occasions.
The Amritsar-to-Lahore bus service was started in December last year.
Manmohan Singh, who hails from this city, would be accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur.
They are likely to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple on Friday morning before the bus is flagged off.
Singh is also likely to meet his close relatives, who live in this city.
Tight security measures have been made by various agencies including the Special Protection Group, Punjab Police and central forces.
Over 10,000 security personnel and nearly 500 police officials had been posted in the city.
Manmohan Singh will address a public rally on Friday afternoon that is being seen as a kick-off to the poll campaign by the ruling Congress in Punjab.
The state assembly goes to the polls February next year.
The prime minister was to flag off the bus in Atari village near the Wagah joint check post between India and Pakistan.
But the venue was shifted to the city following security concerns.
