LAHORE – Indian Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, along withhis cabinet ministers, reached Pakistan to visit Kartarpur on the secondday of the reopening of the route which was suspended in wake of the Covidpandemic.
Reports in local media quoting the Foreign Office spokesperson said keyIndian politicians arrived in Pakistan to visit the Kartarpur Corridor, aday before Gurpurab, which marks the birth anniversary of Sikhism founder.
Kartarpur Project Management Unit CEO, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara ParbandhakCommittee office- bearers and Gujranwala Commissioner greeted the Sikhpilgrims who arrived here a day before the annual commemoration of GuruNanak’s birthday.
Rajasthan Cabinet Minister Harish Chaudhry and eight members of the IndianPunjab Legislative Assembly are also part of the delegation, it added.
Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu is not part of thedelegation led by Channi. Sidhu’s spokesperson said he has been officiallyintimated that he could go on November 20 instead of November 18.
Kartarpur crossing was reopened on Wednesday after more than a year aspilgrimage was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
Earlier, the first batch of 28 Indian Sikhs, including women, arrived atthe holiest site of Sikhism, while over 2,500 pilgrims arrived via theWagah border.
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Pakistan and India signed the Kartarpur corridor agreement in 2019 andIndian pilgrims of all faiths are allowed to undertake round the yearvisa-free travel through the stretched passage. The historic corridorconnects Pakistani and Indian Punjab, the birthplace of Sikhism, which wasdivided between the two countries after independence in 1947.
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi extendedwelcome to the Sikh pilgrims arriving on the 552nd birth anniversary ofBaba Guru Nanak.
The PTI Minister said Pakistan had reopened the Kartarpur Corridor on June29, 2020, after a temporary suspension of about three months however Modiled government kept the Corridor closed from its side for nearly 20 months.
Pakistan had also proposed formally to India to reopen the corridor inrespect of the wishes and sentiments of the pilgrims.
