One step ahead towards Kartarpur corridor project

11 Apr 2019 13:06:12

Islamabad, April 11: A route towards peace for India-Pakistan relations, Kartarpur corridor will support the efforts to release tensions among both countries. Stepping towards one more milestone for the project, Pakistan on 8th April said that it will hold a technical meeting with India on April 16. This is in order to discuss modalities linking for the corridor linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak Sahib Shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The technical meeting will have a high level of experts, including engineers and surveyors, was held at "proposed zero points" in the follow up to the decision reached on the March 14 meeting.


Later, the Pakistani Cabinet constituted a 10-member Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) to facilitate Sikh pilgrims after the opening of the Kartarpur corridor.

"Continuing with Pakistan's spirit of constructive engagement, we have agreed to the Indian proposal for a technical meeting on 16 April," Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal tweeted.


"We expect positivity from India so that the corridor becomes reality for 550th celebrations," he further said. India and Pakistan last month held a meeting of technical experts on the Kartarpur corridor during which its alignment coordinates and other engineering aspects of the proposed crossing points were discussed.

On 4th of April, India said Pakistan is yet to respond to its concerns over reports that controversial elements have been appointed to the committee. Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.

India voiced concerns over the presence of several Khalistani separatists in the committee on the Kartarpur corridor. It will wait for a response from Islamabad on the issue and will not go ahead with a previously agreed meeting on the corridor on April 2 in Wagah on the Pakistani side.

Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had on November 26 last year laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district.

Two days later, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal, 125 km from Lahore.


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