Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar, on Thursday, 12 September, said that Pakistan has not agreed to the initial number of Sikh pilgrims that India had proposed, who would have been allowed to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, according to news agency ANI.
According to Kumar, Pakistan has cited constraints pertaining to infrastructure for this decision.
Regarding the $20 per person service fee that Pakistan planned to charge the pilgrims, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said, “This fee will only be charged in order to supplement the enormous expenditure which the Government of Pakistan is undertaking to complete and maintain the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and to provide services to the pilgrims."
“I would assert that this fee will not even cover a fraction of the cost that our Government is bearing in order to facilitate the pilgrims.”Mohammad Faisal, Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson
On September 4, the MEA had said that the service fee that Pakistan was planning to charge the pilgrims was as not agreeable in the spirit of smooth and easy access through the corridor.
The Ministry of External Affairs had also said that owing to persistence shown by Pakistan, the agreement fell short of finalisation, after the third round of talks on the modalities for operationalisation of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor were held at Attari.
The proposed corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims.
(With Inputs from ANI and PTI )
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