was of symbolic importance to the efforts of the governments of both nations to foster peaceful and friendly relations. In its inaugural run on 19 February 1999, the bus carried the then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was to attend a summit in Lahore and was received by his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif at Wagah. Its official name is the Sada-e-Sarhad (Urdu for Call of the Frontier). The duration of the entire journey is eight hours, covering a distance of 530 km (329 mi). While the bus service had continued to run during the Kargil War of 1999, it was suspended in the aftermath of the 2001 Indian Parliament attack on 13 December 2001, which the Indian government accused Pakistan of instigating. The bus service was resumed on 16 July 2003 when bilateral relations had improved. This service was suspended in 2019, as a result of Pakistani protest at the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. In 2003, after a ceasefire in Kashmir improved bilateral relations, the two governments worked on the proposal for a bus connecting the city of Srinagar (India) to the city of Muzaffarabad (Pakistan) (Srinagar–Muzaffarabad Bus). The official agreement was promulgated on 16 February 2005 when the then-Indian Minister of External Affairs K. Natwar Singh visited Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The decision was announced along with agreements on establishing the Thar Express train service. The bus ran a distance of 183 kilometres and was officially launched on 7 April 2005 and was flagged-off by the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The service was suspended for after 2005 Kashmir earthquake due to after effects of road damage. A bus service connecting Poonch (India) with Rawalkote (Pakistan) over 55 km was also launched on 20 June 2006. On 5 June 2008 the passenger quota on the Poonch–Rawalkote bus was doubled. Bus services connecting Kargil (India) with Skardu (Pakistan), Jammu (India) with Sialkot (Pakistan) and Mirpur (Pakistan) are also being planned. The Indian official position viewed the Srinagar–Muzaffarabad bus service as a "humanitarian measure without prejudice" and not affecting the rival policies and stands of the two governments on the Kashmir dispute. Both governments announced that Indian and Pakistani citizens could travel anywhere in Indian Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistani Azad Kashmir, including the Northern Areas of Pakistan, which are part of India's claim on Jammu and Kashmir and pre-1947 Jammu