Kartarpur Corridor: US welcomes Pakistan, India agreement
"Building people-to-people ties between neighbors is good news," State SCA wrote on Twitter.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells today (Oct. 25) welcomed the historic opening of the Kartarpur Corridor between India and Pakistan calling it ‘good news’.
"Welcome news of a finalized agreement that paves the way for a corridor between India and Pakistan, allowing Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. We look forward to the formal opening in November. Building people-to-people ties between neighbors is good news," State SCA wrote on Twitter.
Welcome news of a finalized agreement that paves the way for a corridor between India and Pakistan, allowing Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. We look forward to the formal opening in November. Building people-to-people ties between neighbors is good news. AGW
— State_SCA (@State_SCA) October 24, 2019
On Oct. 24, much-awaited Kartarpur Corridor – the first visa-free corridor between Pakistan and India since their independence in 1947 – was signed in a bilateral agreement during a ceremony held at Kartarpur Zero Line.
Director General South Asia and SAARC at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr Muhammad Faisal signed the agreement on behalf of Pakistan.
“Today is a day of celebration,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told a signing ceremony in Kartarpur.
Speaking to the media after signing the agreement, Dr Faisal said Prime Minister Imran Khan had fulfilled his promise and completed the corridor in a year.
“It was very, very difficult and tough negotiations with India, because of the history we have, it is never easy, it is never simple,” Faisal said, while praising efforts of his team in having successful negotiations.
The last disagreement between the rival states was the $20 service fee that Pakistan wanted to charge from every pilgrim as a service fee for a single trip. India initially denied it; however, later agreed to it reluctantly.
Faisal said the $20 was a service charge, not a fee, and pilgrims would just have to present their passports, which would be quickly scanned, to cross in.
