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The Pakistan government on Monday, 25 March, approved a proposal to establish a corridor that will allow Hindu pilgrims from India to visit Sharada Peeth, an ancient Hindu temple and cultural site in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, according to a media report.
The Sharda Peeth corridor, when opened, will be the second religious tract after Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan-controlled territory that will connect the two neighbouring nations.
"After Kartarpur, a piece of big news is in the offing for Hindus. Some of the government officials will visit the area and will later submit a report to the prime minister," the sources said.
Established in 237 BC during the reign of Ashoka, the 5,000-year-old Sharada Peeth is an abandoned temple and ancient centre of learning dedicated to the Hindu goddess of learning. Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE, Sharada Peeth was one of the foremost temple universities of the Indian subcontinent.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti wrote that she had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about reopening Sharada Peeth and welcomed the initiative amidst Indo-Pak tensions.
Kashmiri Pandit organisations have been demanding opening of the Sharada Peeth corridor for many years now.
"I am going to visit the place in a couple of days. I will also send a report to Prime Minister Imran Khan," he added. On November last year, the Pakistani premier had laid the foundation stone for the 4-km Kartarpur corridor at Shakargarh in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province.
The corridor is expected to be completed by 2019 and will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur – the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev –with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which was established in 1522 by Guru Nanak Dev.
(With inputs from PTI)
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