Dozens of Indian Sikhs offer payers at Kartarpur gurdwara in Pakistan

DOZENS of Sikh devotees from India offered prayers at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan on Thursday (18) after the visa-free Kartarpur corridor reopened for pilgrims after a gap of 20 months.

The more than four-km long Kartarpur corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in the Gurdaspur district of India. Pilgrimage to the gurdwara was suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.

Pakistan's Evacuee Trust Property Board spokesperson Amir Hashmi said in Lahore that Indian Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and a delegation of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) visited the gurdwara.

"Indian Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi along with about 30 persons, including his cabinet ministers, today visited Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, by using Kartarpur corridor," Hashmi said.

However, former cricketer and Indian National Congress party’s Punjab state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu was not part of the Channi-led group.

Sidhu's media advisor Surinder Dalla said on Wednesday (17) night that the Congress leader had been officially intimated that he could go there on Saturday (20) instead of Thursday (18).

Kartarpur Corridor Project Management Unit chief executive officer Muhammad Latif, Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee office-bearers and commissioner Gujranwala greeted the Indian guests who arrived at the gurdwara.

The first batch of 28 Indian Sikhs, including women, visited the gurdwara on Wednesday (17) by using the corridor on the first day of its reopening.

Describing the reopening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor as a historic moment, Channi had said before crossing over that it was a joyous occasion as the corridor has facilitated numerous devotees to go to Kartarpur Sahib.

The Indian government had decided to reopen the Kartarpur corridor from Wednesday (17) ahead of Gurpurab, which marks the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, on November 19.

(PTI)