The corridor will enable devotees to travel from the border town of Gurdaspur and across the international border into Pakistan without visas.The Kartarpur Corridor is expected to be completed within six months.
Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday laid the foundation stone for a corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur.
Addressing the ceremony, PM Khan welcomed all the guests who came from India.He said the happiness he saw on the faces of the Sikh pilgrims was like Muslims feel when they reach near Makkah or Madina.
Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and other Pakistani officials were present at the groundbreaking ceremony held at Narowal in Kartarpur.
Pakistan has already conveyed to India its decision to open Kartarpur Corridor for Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary.
India was represented by Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri, and Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Sidhu said that if the borders between both countries opened, it would be possible to transport goods to different parts of Pakistan and even others countries.Indian Minister for Food Harsimrat Kaur Badal also addressed attendees with an emotional speech.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was invited by the Pakistan government for the ceremony, had expressed her inability to travel and instead nominated Hardeep Singh Puri and Harsimrat Kaur Badal to attend the ceremony.
Indian Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district earlier this week.
The Sikh temple also known as a Gurdwara of Darbar Sahib is considered holy by the Sikh community. The Gurdwara was home to Guru Nanak Dev, one of the leaders of the faith for 18 years and he died there in 1539.
For the past 71 years, even since partition, Sikhs have been offering prayers near the international border while seeing the gurdwara from a distance.
The corridor will link Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, the final resting place of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak.
Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. It was established by the Sikh Guru in 1522.
The Kartarpur Corridor will give access to pilgrims from India, especially from the Sikh community, to visit the gurdwara which has a significant place in Sikh religious history.
