PM Imran to lay foundation stone of Kartarpur corridor on Nov 28

Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib is the final resting place of Guru Nanak.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay foundation stone of Kartarpur corridor on November 28, Foreign Minister Shahd Mehmood Qureshi confirmed on Thursday.

In a message posted on micro-blogging website Twitter, the Foreign Minister stated that Pakistan has already conveyed to India it s decision to open Kartarpura Corridor for Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary.

“PM Imran Khan will do break ground at Kartarpura facilities on 28th November. We welcome the Sikh community to Pakistan for this auspicious occasion,” the minister added.

On the Indian side, the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also approved the development of the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district to the International Border. This will give Indian pilgrims easy access to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of the Ravi river, in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years.

A political row had erupted in India after Navjot Singh Sidhu visited Pakistan in August this year to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Imran Khan as the Prime Minister. He claimed that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had told him that Islamabad would open a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of Pakistan on the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak in 2019.

According to Indian media, Sidhu subsequently met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to initiate talks between India and Pakistan on the Kartarpur corridor issue. After the meeting, Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal said Swaraj accused Sidhu of messing up the Kartarpur Sahib corridor dialogue and misusing the political clearance that he was granted to visit Pakistan.

Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, which is three kilometres from the India-Pakistan border, is the final resting place of Guru Nanak.