Registrations for Kartarpur delayed

NEWDELHI: Registration of Indian pilgrims intending to visit Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan’s Kartarpur couldn’t begin as planned on Sunday as the two countries were yet to sign an agreement on a cross-border corridor, people familiar with the developments said, adding it was not immediately clear when the two sides will sign pact.

NEW DELHI: Registration of Indian pilgrims intending to visit Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan’s Kartarpur couldn’t begin as planned on Sunday as the two countries were yet to sign an agreement on a cross-border corridor, people familiar with the developments said.

India has serious misgivings about certain conditions in the draft final agreement provided by Pakistan, including a $20 service fee for every pilgrim, and it was not immediately clear when the two sides will sign the pact.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the Indian side of the Kartarpur Corridor, linking Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur to the shrine in Pakistan, on November 8. Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the Pakistani section of the corridor will be inaugurated on November 9. The people cited above said that the online registration of pilgrims, which was earlier to start on October 20, could not commence

as the agreement hadn’t been signed as yet. India has asked Pakistan to show flexibility and waive the service fee for pilgrims though it wasn’t clear when the two sides would be able to settle the unresolved issues.

India and Pakistan have agreed that the pilgrims will not need visas to use the corridor. Pakistan also accepted India’s request that people of all faiths should be allowed to use the facility.