CHANDIGARH: Following Operation Sindoor, the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab to the Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Kartarpur in Pakistan has been closed for pilgrims. The beating retreat ceremony at the Attari border near Amritsar has also been cancelled until further notice.
India had conducted Operation Sindoor early on Wednesday morning carrying out precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (P0K).
Sources said around 100 Sikh devotees, who had reached the Kartarpur corridor on Wednesday morning to go to the Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Kartarpur, were asked to return home after a wait of an hour-and-a-half at the integrated check post.
The pilgrims had reached the corridor amid apprehensions that they would not be allowed to cross over to Pakistan due to the conflict underway since the wee hours. "Officials told us that the situation is not conducive and advised us to return. National interest is above all," said one of the devotees on condition of anonymity.
Confirming that the Kartarpur corridor was closed, a senior official said around 500 pilgrims had registered to visit the Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan through the corridor on Wednesday morning. "Almost 100 had arrived this morning to cross over but were advised to return to their homes as the corridor has been shut down."
The bureau of immigration in the Ministry of Home Affairs announced the closure of the Kartarpur corridor “till further orders”.
Citing security reasons, the beating retreat ceremony which is held at the Attari border has also been cancelled until further notice.
A Border Security Force (BSF) official confirmed that there will be no retreat ceremony on Wednesday. Hundreds of locals and tourists visit the Attari border on the Indian side and Wagah on the Pakistan side daily to watch the flag-lowering and retreat ceremony.
Following the Pahalgam attack in which 25 tourists and a local were killed, the BSF had “scaled down” the event. The border gates remained closed during the event and the symbolic handshake between the two forces was suspended.
