Within hours, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said his country had conveyed to India its decision to open the Kartarpur corridor for Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform the ground-breaking ceremony on November 28. Taking to Twitter, Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry called the “Indian Cabinet endorsement of Pakistan’s proposition on #KartarPurBorderOpening” a “victory of peace lobby in both countries” and a step in the “right direction” which, he said, will “encourage voices of reason and tranquility on both sides of the border.”
In Chandigarh, the office of the Chief Minister issued a statement: “President of India Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone for the Kartarpur Corridor at Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur, on November 26 on the Indian side, two days prior to the ground-breaking ceremony of corridor passage already announced by Pakistan.” The official spokesman of India's Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar said: “In keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet today to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji in 2019, we have approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities on their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year. Government of India has already decided to build the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border with all modern amenities on our side.”
The unexpected and positive movement on the Kartarpur corridor issue came three months after Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu sparked a controversy when he hugged Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony - Bajwa was said to have conveyed Pakistan’s willingness to open the Kartarpur corridor. The BJP government, including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, had reprimanded Sidhu for his “behaviour” in Pakistan. India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh called the Union Cabinet’s approval for the corridor project a “landmark decision.” New Delhi wants the corridor to be “open 365 days, 24 hours”, and there must be no restriction on the number of pilgrims travelling across the border. It also wants that there must be free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side.
“Despite the harassment that pilgrims face on the Pakistani side, Sikh pilgrims continue to make the difficult journey. Our proposal is so that the burden of pilgrims can be eased significantly,” sources said.
Besides building the corridor, the government also plans to install a “high-powered telescope” on the International Border where pilgrims can use binoculars to see the shrine on the other side. Two days ago, after a meeting of the National Implementation Committee, Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma announced several initiatives to mark the Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary.
