Kartarpur Corridor: India Proposes Dates for Pak Delegation Visit

India and Pakistan are yet to finalise the modalities of travel of the Indian pilgrims to the gurudwara.

File image of Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan.

(Photo Courtesy: discoversikhism.com)

India on Tuesday, 22 January, shared with Pakistan the coordinates of the crossing point of the proposed Kartarpur Corridor, which will link Baba Nanak village in Punjab to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal in Pakistan.

The Ministry of External Affairs said India has also proposed to Islamabad two sets of dates, 26 February and 7 March, for the visit of a Pakistani delegation to Delhi to discuss and finalise the modalities of the corridor.

On Monday, 21 January, Pakistan had said it shared a draft agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor with India, and invited New Delhi to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate and finalise the proposal.

Both sides are yet to finalise the modalities of travel of the Indian pilgrims to the gurudwara.

The MEA said it has proposed two sets of dates for the visit by the Pakistani delegation to Delhi so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the "earliest".

“Pursuant to the decision taken by the government of India on 22 November 2018 to expeditiously realise the long-pending proposal to establish Kartarpur Corridor, India has today shared the coordinates of the zero point (crossing point) of the corridor along the International Border with Pakistan.”

MEA Statement

On 26 November last year, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur Corridor in Gurdaspur district.

Two days later, on 28 November, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had laid the foundation stone of the corridor at Narowal, 125 km from Lahore.

The decision to build the corridor – from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to the international border – was taken by the Union Cabinet on 22 November.

The corridor was a long-pending demand of the Sikh community. Pakistan has committed to open the corridor in November on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.