Pakistan urges India to reopen Kartarpur corridor for pilgrims.
Pakistan on Tuesday urged India to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor from its side and allow Sikh pilgrims to visit the holy site for Guru Nanak Dev’s upcoming birthday celebrations.
The Kartarpur corridor was opened by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the eve of the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak Dev on November 9, 2019, according to the Foreign Ministry.
But the coronavirus pandemic hit the region and the world a few months after the corridor opened.
The movement of pilgrims to Pakistan through the corridor has been suspended since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the neighboring country has banned all travel from India citing the increase in cases in April this year.
India “has yet to open the corridor on its side and allow pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib,” the FO said.
“We look forward to welcoming devotees from India and around the world” for the upcoming Guru Nanak Dev birthday celebrations from November 17-26, he said.
“Pakistan hopes that India, in a spirit of cooperation, will allow pilgrims to travel through the corridor to visit Kartarpur Sahib,” he added.
The 4 km long Kartarpur corridor provides visa-free access for Sikh Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, lived and died in this gurdwara in the early 16th century.
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