Amid escalating India-Pakistan tensions, Kartarpur corridor remains open for pilgrims

Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack, the Kartarpur corridor at Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district remains open for pilgrims to offer prayers at the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in the neighbouring country.

The Kartarpur corridor links the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur.

Devotees on Friday continued to visit the Kartarpur corridor at Dera Baba Nanak to pay obeisance at the historic gurdwara in Pakistan. The pilgrims sought that the Kartarpur corridor should remain open.

“The corridor should remain open for pilgrims,” said a Sikh devotee from Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar district.

The pilgrims strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Pahalgam and said exemplary action should be taken against the perpetrators.

The Kartarpur corridor was opened on November 9, 2019, on the occasion of Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary. Indian pilgrims of all faiths are allowed to undertake visa-free travel throughout the year to the historic gurdwara in Pakistan.

According to an agreement signed between India and Pakistan, a total of 5,000 pilgrims per day can cross over to the neighbouring country for paying obeisance at the gurdwara.

The Centre on Wednesday announced a raft of measures, including expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 and immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post, in view of the cross-border links to the Pahalgam attack.