Pakistan, India sign deal on visa-free corridor for pilgrims

I slamabad and New Delhi signed an agreement yesterday on a visa-free corridor between the two countries that will allow Sikh pilgrims in India to visit the shrine to their religion’s founder, which is in Pakistan. The Kartarpur Corridor deal -- a rare example of cooperation between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals -- follows months of heightened tensions. “Indian pilgrims of all faiths and persons of Indian origin... can use the corridor.

The travel will be visa-free,” said S.C.L. Das, a joint secretary in the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, at a press conference after the agreement was signed. “The Pakistan side has agreed to make sufficient provision for langar and distribution of prasad in the Gurdwara premises. On our side, all the required infrastructure, including the highway and the passenger terminal building are nearing completion for timely inauguration of the corridor,” the top officer added.

Under the agreement, the pilgrims would come in the morning and return in the evening after visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. At least 5,000 pilgrims will be allowed to visit the holy site every day without a visa. “Pilgrims from around the world are also welcome,” added Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal. The deal allows for a secure corridor and bridge between the two countries, leading directly to the grave of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak, just four kilometres (two miles) from the Indian border.

Pakistan had employed hundreds of labourers to spruce up the shrine, including building a border immigration checkpoint and a bridge, as well as expanding the grounds comprising the shrine itself. India had long been asking Pakistan for such a corridor, but the project’s realisation was prevented by years of diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the project on November 9, three days before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate India’s end of the corridor on the same day, news agency IANS had quoted Home Ministry sources as saying. The corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab with Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, just about four km from the International Border, located at Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.I However Delhi said that it is still contesting Pakistan’s bid to charge each pilgrim $20 per visit. The Sikh faith began in the 15th century in the city of Lahore, which is now part of Pakistan, when Guru Nanak began teaching a faith that preached equality between all men.