Confusion over passport

Pak foreign office says pilgrims exempted, Army says otherwise

Confusion continued to reign over Pakistan's announcements on the Kartarpur corridor, with the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Thursday saying that Indian pilgrims are exempted from having to carry passports to visit the Kartarpur shrine.

Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Faisal also said that Pakistan was waiving the requirement of announcing the list of pilgrims 10 days in advance, and that it was waiving the $20 service fee from pilgrims on November 9 and 10.

Earlier, Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor had tweeted that Indian pilgrims would require a passport to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara.Asked about it, the FO spokesperson said: "This is the formal position of Foreign

Office and the ISPR statement is also in line with it".

The DG ISPR's tweet came a week after Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Indian Sikh pilgrims coming to Kartarpur "won't need a passport -- just a valid ID".

In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said at a briefing that even a day before the inauguration of the corridor on Saturday, "a sense of confusion continues" in Pakistan. Kumar said the Indian government would go by the bilateral MoU inked between the two sides on the Kartarpur corridor.

"As of today, there is a bilateral document which has been signed between the two sides, which very clearly specifies the documents needed to undertake the visit," he said.