Kartarpur ready for pilgrims, says Imran
ISLAMABAD:PAKISTAN prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday shared photos of the Kartarpur complex and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, saying the shrine is ready to welcome Sikh pilgrims for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak .
The pictures were shared by Khan on his Twitter account ahead of the planned inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor on November 9.
The year 2019 marks the 550th birth anniversary year of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak , whose birthplace is Nankana Sahib in Pakistan.
“Kartarpur (is) ready to welcome Sikh pilgrims,” he tweeted.
In another tweet, he congratulated his own government for completing the construction work on time. “I want to congratulate our govt for readying Kartarpur, in record time, for Guru Nanak jee’s 550th birthday celebrations,” he said.
Last week, Khan removed the condition of passport for the Indian Sikhs visiting Kartarpur and the service fee of $20 dollars for those coming for the inaugural ceremony and on the 550th birth anniversary of the Sikh Guru on November 12.
The proposed opening of the corridor coincides with the presence of tens of thousands of protestors in the capital Islamabad. Their leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman had demanded resignation of Khan as conditions to disperse peacefully. Meanwhile, Ahsan Iqbal, a leader of Pakistan Muslims League-nawaz and ally of Rehman, on Saturday criticised the Khan’s move to allow Sikhs from India enter into Pakistan without passport.
Iqbal said Kartarpur opening was a good gesture but “lifting condition of passport for foreigners like Indians was a blunder”.
The Kartarpur Corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur located at Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Notwithstanding a chill in bilateral ties over Kashmir, Pakistan and India after tough negotiations signed a landmark agreement last week to operationalise the historic Kartarpur corridor to allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the holy Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.