India, Pak to develop Kartarpur corridor on respective sides

Smita Sharma & Ravi S Singh 
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 22

On the eve of Guru Nanak birth anniversary, India and Pakistan on Thursday claimed movement forward on opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor. Addressing the long standing sentiments of Sikh community, a Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday approved building and development of the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Nanak in Gurdaspur district in Punjab to the International Border with Pakistan. 

The cabinet resolution includes a detailed plan to celebrate across India and globally the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, who spent 18 years at Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib on the banks of Ravi river in Pakistan.

"The Kartarpur Sahib corridor will be implemented as an integrated development project with Government of India's  funding, to provide smooth and easy passage, with all modern amenities," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said. A note verbale communicating the same has been sent to Pakistan High Commission from MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) whose spokesperson Raveesh Kumar added that India has "approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India".

The Cabinet announcement came a day after Pakistan media reported that Islamabad has decided to lay foundation for the corridor. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote in a tweet, "Pakistan has already conveyed to India its decision to open Kartarpur Corridor for Baba Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary. PM Imran Khan will do break ground (ground breaking ceremony) at Kartarpura facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion." 

However, Indian sources claimed that Cabinet passed its resolution after many weeks of internal consultations and preparation within the government. "Any suggestion that the corridor or the celebrations are being planned as a response to a Pakistani proposal is not only preposterous, but hurtful to the sentiments of the Sikh community,"said an official. 

India's intention is that the corridor must be a full-fledged one with no restriction on pilgrims and should be open not just on special occasions but 365 days and 24 hours, said sources. "There must be free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side,"added an Indian official.

However, what remains unclear is bilateral consensus to operationalise the corridor with immigration check points at the International Border aside of development of the road by both countries on their respective sides. The matter was to be discussed if External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had met with her counterpart SM Qureshi along sidelines of UNGA (United Nations GeneralAssembly) in New York. But India called off the meeting within 24 hours of accepting the Pakistani offer of talks . 

"The modalities will need to be worked out to finalise logistical and procedural aspects, which will require some kind of a meeting," said a Pakistani official.

Meanwhile, political leaders welcomed the move and also rushed to claim credit for movement forward after stalemate on the issue. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh welcomed the resolution "in response to the various letters and submissions he had made to the Prime Minister on this issue". 

Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) president and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal hailed the Modi government for its decision and announced that SAD and SGPC will take a delegation to Kartarpur Sahib in near future. Asked if Punjab minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu's  visit to Pakistan and controversial hugging of the country's Army chief catalysed the Government of India's decision on the corridor, he quipped: "I do not know," adding, "May be the recent grenade attack at religious place in Amritsar was because of it."

Sidhu had claimed that the Pakistan government has decided to open the corridor following his Islamabad visit for oath-taking ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan. 'It will act like a soothing balm for two neighbouring countries' wrote Sidhu in a tweet.

"Heartily welcome Kartarpur initiative , it will ease the situation between the two neighbours. J&K has been waiting for similar large heartedness since last 70 years. Need to carry forward Vajpayee ji initiative and open all the routes across LOC and IB in J&K," PDP president and former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti tweeted.

Prez, Capt to lay stone on Nov 26

President Ram Nath Kovind and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will lay the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor at Dera Baba Nank in Gurdaspur on November 26, the Punjab Government has said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba has asked the state government to make preparations for the ceremony. TNS