Pakistan to reopen Kartarpur Corridor on Monday

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Saturday decided to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims on Monday on the occasion of the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the 19th century leader of the Sikh empire.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi took to microblogging website Twitter to make the announcement, reports The Express Tribune.

“As places of worship open up across the world, Pakistan prepares to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for all Sikh pilgrims, conveying to the Indian side our readiness to reopen the corridor on 29 June 2020, the occasion of the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh,” Qureshi said in the tweet.

The corridor was temporarily closed on March 16 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 4.2 km corridor links Dera Baba Nanak town in Gurdaspur district with Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Shakargarh tehsil in Narowal district of Pakistan.

India and Pakistan in October 2019 signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur corridor to allow Indian pilgrims a visa-free visit to the holy gurdwara, believed to have been built on the site where Guru Nanak died in the 16th century, and located some 4 km inside Pakistan.