Pakistan decides to open Kartarpur corridor in 2019

NEW DELHI: A day after India, Pakistan on Friday announced to open the Kartarpur corridor for the 550th Birth Anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in 2019.


Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the groundbreaking ceremony of the facilities at the crossing on the Pakistan side on November 28, 2018.

The Pakistani proposal to initiate the corridor has also been concurred by India.

Kartarpur is a small town in district Narowal, 4 km from the Pakistan- India border, where the founder of the Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak spent the last 18 years of his life. Subsequently, Gurdwara Darbar Sahab was built at the site on the Pakistan side and Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak in India, which are visited by thousands of Sikhs every year.

In a significant decision, the Union Cabinet had on Thursday cleared a proposal to develop a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.

Following the Cabinet decision, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said that India has urged Pakistan to build the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib on the Pakistani side to facilitate visit of the Indian pilgrims to the shrine -- the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak.