NEW DELHI: Online registrations for the much-awaited pilgrimage to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur could not be started on Sunday as India and Pakistan failed to reach a consensus on several issues, including Islamabad’s insistence of charging $20 from each pilgrim.
The online registration of devotees visiting Darbar Sahib Gurdwara was to commence on Sunday after signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries. The signing of the pact on a few unresolved issues of the pilgrimage has not happened yet, officials said.
The corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district to Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur. “Since some issues are yet to be resolved, the online registration for the Kartarpur pilgrimage could not be started on Sunday,” an official privy to the development said.
Key unresolved issues include Pakistan’s insistence of charging $20 from each pilgrim and the timing of the pilgrimage every day (first entry and last exit time).
Meanwhile, Pakistan PM Imran Khan on Sunday announced that they will open the much-awaited corridor on November 9. “Pakistan is all set to open its doors for Sikhs from all across the globe, as the construction work on Kartarpur project enters final stages and will be open to public on November 9, 2019,” Khan said in a Facebook post, clearing the air on whether the corridor will be open for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.