Pak invites Sushma, Amarinder, Sidhu to Kartarpur ceremony

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday invited his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and state minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to the groundbreaking ceremony for a corridor to Kartarpur Gurdwara.

Qureshi took to Twitter late on Saturday to state he had extended an invitation on behalf of Pakistan to the three Indian politicians to join the ceremony in Punjab province on November 28.

In New Delhi, people familiar with developments said it was too early to say anything on the invitation, which would be studied at the highest levels of the government to frame a response. There was no formal response from the external affairs ministry.

On Thursday, India and Pakistan announced separately they will make corridors on their sides of the border to facilitate visa-free visits to Kartarpur Gurdwara.

The gurdwara is located 120 km from Lahore on the banks of the Ravi river, by Indian pilgrims. The gurdwara, built at the site where Guru Nanak died, is about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India. The move came ahead of the celebration of Guru Nanak’s 550th

› Pak’s Kartarpur spirit can be a step forward in the right direction from conflict to cooperation, animosity to peace and enmity to friendship SHAH MAHMOOD QURESHI , Pakistan foreign minister

birth anniversary in 2019.

The demand to build a corridor linking India’s border district of Gurdaspur with the historic gurdwara has been a long-standing one from the Sikh community. It returned to focus when Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa told Sidhu on the sidelines of the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan in August that Islamabad planned to open a corridor for Indian pilgrims. Qureshi, while briefing the National Assembly on Friday, said PM Khan would inaugurate the groundbreaking ceremony on the Pakistani side on November 28. He said the move reflected the importance Pakistan gives to “all minorities”.

“Pakistan’s Kartarpur Spirit can be a step forward in the right direction from conflict to cooperation, animosity to peace and enmity to friendship,” he added.