India and Pakistan on 23rd October finally signed an agreement at Kartarpur Zero Line to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor paving way for Indian Sikh pilgrims to pay a visa-free visit to the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. The first pilgrimage to the religious site is expected to be undertaken on November 9.
Crux of the Matter
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.
Kartarpur is where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life.
5000 pilgrims shall be permitted to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur through the corridor every day without any visa.
PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate India’s end of the corridor on November 9, three days before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. On the same day, PM Imran Khan will inaugurate the project on Pakistan’s end.
Pakistan intends to impose $20 per pilgrim per visit as service charge. Disagreement over the issue even led to a delay in launching online registration for pilgrims intending to visit the shrine. The service charge is expected to generate over Rs 21 crore each month for Pakistan.
Curiopedia
During the 1947 partition of India, Punjab was divided between India and Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line awarded the Shakargarh tehsil on the right bank of the Ravi River, including Kartarpur, to Pakistan, and the Gurdaspur tehsil on the left bank of Ravi to India. After partition, it is believed that Indian Sikhs would go over to Kartarpur informally, crossing a bridge on the Ravi river which joined Dera Baba Nanak with Kartarpur Sahib. This bridge was eventually destroyed in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. Kartarpur Corridor was first proposed in early 1999 by the prime ministers of India and Pakistan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif. More Info
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