ISLAMABAD – Cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu disclosed thisafter he had brief interaction with Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar JavedBajwa.

“General Bajwa said to me that we were thinking of opening the Kartarpurroute on the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev,”, after attendingthe oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan’s new premier Imran Khan.

Earlier, the Sikh religious body SGPC had petitioned Union Home MinisterRajnath Singh for taking up the issue of a opening up a corridor betweenDera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district and Kartarpur Sahib in Narowaldistrict of Pakistan. At the time of partition out of three historicalGurdwaras close to the border two came to Indian side and Pakistan got one.Guru Nanak spent his last days in Gurdwara on the Pakistani side. TheGurdwara is visible from Indian side of border. India’s Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) is also hosting a massive programme across the globeto mark 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

Sidhu hoped a new beginning in the bilateral relations between India andPakistan. “I had come here with a message of love and I am taking back 100times more love than what I brought here,” the Punjab minister toldreporters after the ceremony. “It’s our duty that we go back and ask ourgovernment to take a step ahead and I hope if we take one step forward,people here will take two steps forward,” Sidhu was quoted by Pakistaninews channels.