CHANDIGARH: India and Pakistan have agreed to extend the validity of the agreement on the Kartarpur corridor by five years in order to ensure uninterrupted travel for devotees from India to the Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has also reiterated to Pakistan to waive off USD 20 service charge levied by it on each Indian devotee who visits the holy shrine.
A statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reads, “It has been agreed between India and Pakistan through diplomatic channels to extend the validity of the agreement on Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for a further period of five years.”
“The Agreement, signed on October 24, 2019, to facilitate the visit of pilgrims from India to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, Narowal, Pakistan through the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, was valid for a period of five years. Extension of the validity of this agreement will ensure uninterrupted operation of the corridor for use by the pilgrims from India to visit the holy Gurdwara in Pakistan,” the statement further read.
“In view of the continued requests of pilgrims regarding the removal of USD 20 service charge levied by Pakistan per pilgrim per visit, India has once again urged Pakistan to not levy any fee or charges on the pilgrims,” it stated.
Many delegations of Sikhs have requested the central government to take the issue of abolishing the USD 20 fee charged by Pakistan with them.
The 4-km-long Kartarpur corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab in India.
A few months back Pakistan had finally completed the 420-metre-long bridge at the Kartarpur Corridor zero line after a delay of two-and-a-half years.
Earlier, flooding incidents had disrupted devotees’ movements to the Kartarpur Sahib.
As per the agreement between India and Pakistan, the neighbouring country was to allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims daily to visit the gurdwara, but the actual number of pilgrims visiting the gurdwara via the corridor is very less, only a few hundred per day.
The fully air-conditioned state-of-the-art passenger terminal building near Dera Baba Nanak has over 50 immigration counters.
In 2021 a total of 10,025 devotees from India visited the gurdwara through the corridor which grew to 86,097 in 2022 and further to 96,555 in 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kartarpur Sahib corridor on November 9, 2019.
After becoming functional, the corridor remained closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened after a gap of one-and-a-half years in November 2021.