Imran Khan to kickstart work for Kartarpur Corridor: Union Ministers Ms Badal, Puri to attend
Wednesday, 28 November 2018 (11:42 IST)
New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone of the much talked about Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib corridor on Wednesday.
Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine, was established by the Sikh Guru in 1522.
Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri will attend the ground-breaking ceremony of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib corridor.
The event will be held at Narowal, about 120 km from Lahore.
From the Indian side, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor up to the international border with Pakistan at village Mann in Gurdaspur district of Punjab on Monday.
The Union Cabinet in a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last week approved the building and development of the corridor to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev next year.
Pakistan had invited External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to attend the ceremony - which was turned down by Ms Swaraj.
However, in a letter to Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Ms Swaraj had said the Indian government would be represented by Union Ministers Ms Badal and Mr Puri.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on last Friday hoped that the Kartarpur Corridor would act as a bridge between the people of India and Pakistan and referred to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The issue of Kartarpur Sahib came into focus after Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu visited Pakistan in August to attend the oath-taking ceremony of his cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan as new Pakistan Prime Minister.
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had on November 26 tweeted: “Welcome decision of Pakistan PM Imran Khan to build Kartarpur Corridor but will not go there for their ground-breaking ceremony unless Pak ends violence against India. As CM, I have a responsibility to Punjab & will protect it from terror till the last drop of my blood”. (UNI)
