New Delhi: The government has decided to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor with Pakistan following a meeting that BJP MPs from Punjab had with PM Narendra Modi on Sunday. The decision also comes ahead of the upcoming Gurpurab, the birth anniversary of first Sikh guru Guru Nanak, for which the government has already allowed Sikh pilgrims to travel to the Kartarpur gurudwara via the Attari-Wagah border.
Pakistan had also urged the Indian government last week to reopen the corridor. Seen as a corridor of peace, mainly because of how India and Pakistan managed to overcome incessant hostilities in ties to build and open it in just 12 months, the Kartarpur Corridor is expected to reopen "within days".
The Corridor, which was inaugurated in 2019, was forced to shut last year in March after the Covid-19 outbreak. The government had maintained since then that the Corridor, which is of immense religious significance to Sikhs as the last resting place of Guru Nanak, would be reopened only in line with the Covid-19 protocol and after consultations with all involved authorities. The decision to reopen the corridor also comes ahead of the assembly elections in Punjab early next year.
In view of the significance of Gurupurab and sentiments associated with it, India had decided that a "jatha" of around 1,500 pilgrims will be allowed to visit Pakistan from November 17-26, 2021 via the Attari-Wagah ICP. Such visits are covered under the 1974 Bilateral Protocol between India and Pakistan on 'Visits to Religious Shrines'.
India also recalled that Pakistan had twice earlier this year denied permission for a visit by Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan while expressing hope Pakistan would facilitate the visit on this occasion. A day later, Pakistan announced it was going to issue 3,000 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims on the eve of the 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.
