New Delhi, May 2: India and Pakistan have agreed to start a new bus route linking the border towns of Poonch and Rawalkot from June 19 and a Srinagar-Muzaffarabad truck service in July.

The formal announcement of the new confidence-building measures to bring together Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control will be made tomorrow at the end of talks between Indian and Pakistani officials.

Sources said an agreement has also been reached on setting up four meeting points along the LoC at Rawalkot, Poonch, Uri and Chakhoti.

The new confidence-building measures were cleared at the political level last year and it was left to the officials to tie up the lose ends. Sources said efforts were made to ensure that these measures are implemented before the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf scheduled later this year.

The two leaders are expected to meet in July. Even if the meeting does not materialise, Musharraf and Singh will be face to face in New York during the annual UN General Assembly meeting in September.

The Indian and Pakistani officials exchanged a list of goods that could be ferried by the truck service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar. The Pakistani delegation said it was ready to start the service at the earliest but India has sought some time as scanners are to be placed at its border posts.

Pakistan set the condition that the goods should be from Kashmir and even offered to waive customs. It has shown interest in sending handicraft and horticulture products while India has suggested it can supply cement, among other items. The officials termed the talks as positive and the political clearance made it easier for them to finalise procedural details.

The trucks will ply following the same procedure as the Muzaffarabad bus service.

The bus service has not been able to attract large number of passengers because of complex procedures.

The Indian and Pakistani delegations comprise officials handling Kashmir issues. Dilip Sinha, the joint secretary who handles Pakistan, is leading the Indian team at the talks.

Ibne Abbas, Pakistan’s director-general, South Asia, is leading his country’s delegation. Two officials from Pakistan’s interior ministry and two from the directorate of military operations are accompanying Abbas.