Saarc Summit

“They [Pakistan] have been not only been shunned by India but by other Saarc countries as well. It is now up to New Delhi to decide [on Pakistan’s invite],” former Indian ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee said.

In Islamabad, Faisal pointed out that Prime Minister Imran Khan had in his first address said Pakistan would take two steps if India took one step forward. He said Khan, while responding to Modi’s congratulatory letter after taking charge, had expressed Pakistan’s openness to resolving all outstanding issues through dialogue.

“We fought a war with India, relations cannot be fixed quickly,” Faisal said.

Faisal said the Kartarpur Cor- ridor for Sikh pilgrims will be inaugurated on Wednesday by PM Khan and is expected to be completed within six months.

Former cricketer Sidhu arrived for the ceremony at the invitation of Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Thanking Khan, he said at Wagah that he had come with “a message of love and peace”.

“The seed sown by Imran Khan three months ago has become a tree and me and 120 million Sikhs could not be happier,” he said, speaking in Punjabi. “The Kartarpur corridor will be a path of peace and instead of 60 years, happiness can come in six months through it. This corridor will be the reason borders between both countries open.”

The proposal to construct the corridor was mentioned by Paki- stan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to Sidhu when he attended Khan’s swearing-in in August.

The four-km corridor will provide visa-free access to Sikh pilgrims to the gurudwara built at the spot where Guru Nanak died.

On Monday, vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stone for the Indian section of the corridor in Gurdaspur. In Chandigarh, Amarinder, who has turned down Pakistan’s invite, said he gave Sidhu permission to visit Pakistan but had also asked him to reconsider his decision. “I do not stop anyone from going anywhere on a private visit. It [Sidhu’s trip] is not official.”