Kartarpur corridor: Pak delegation to visit India in March

Wednesday 13th February 2019 02:02 EST
 
 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has announced it will send a delegation to India next month to discuss and finalise draft agreement for setting up a corridor to facilitate visit of Sikh pilgrims to the Kartarpur Darbar Sahib Gurudwara. Both neighbours have agreed to open up a special border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.

The corridor will facilitate the visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur. Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal announced on the internet that Pakistan also proposed a return visit by Indian delegation on March 28. He tweeted, “In a spirit of constructive engagement, Pakistan has proposed to India that the Pakistan delegation may visit India on 13 March followed by the return visit of the Indian delegation to Pakistan on March 28 to finalise the draft agreement for the Kartarpur corridor. Faisal further said that “we look forward to positive reciprocity from India.”

Both countries last month floated proposals to host talks in order to give the final shape to the agreement. Pakistan has committed to open the corridor in November on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur, last year on November 26. Two days later, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone for the corridor at Narowal, 125 km from Lahore. Decision to build the corridor, from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the International Border, was taken by the Union Cabinet on November 22.


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