Pak to charge $20 on opening day
Islamabad rejects PM Khan’s offer of waiving fee on Nov 9, 12
NEW DELHI: In a U-turn, Pakistan has conveyed to India that it will charge the $20 facilitation fee from each pilgrim using the Kartarpur Corridor to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib on Saturday, persons familiar with the development said.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan last week announced that no fee would be charged from the pilgrims on the opening day of the corridor on November 9 and on Sikhism founder Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary on November 12.
The Pakistan Foreign Office had confirmed on Thursday the waiving of the fee for the inaugural day and November 12, citing Prime Minister Khan’s remarks.
The corridor, connecting the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in the Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, will be thrown open to the pilgrims on Saturday with India and Pakistan set to hold separate ceremonies to mark the occasion.
Officials said Pakistan has conveyed to India that people travelling through the Kartarpur corridor on Saturday will also have to pay the $20 fee.
However, it was not immediately clear whether the fee will also be charged from those travelling in the official 550-member official jatha or delegation, they said.
Notwithstanding a chill in bilateral ties over Kashmir, India and Pakistan after tough negotiations signed an agreement last month, paving the way for the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev.
The agreement will allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims daily to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib where Guru Nanak spent last 18 years of his life.
Meanwhile, reacting to reports of the launch of a secessionist, anti-India app by Google, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Friday directed state officials to take up the matter with the IT giant and urged the Centre to direct the company to take it down immediately.
An official statement said DGP Dinkar Gupta was coordinating with security agencies to tackle the threat triggered by the launch of the ‘2020 Sikh Referendum’ app, just a day ahead of the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor.
The app, freely available for download on Google Play, clearly aimed at pushing the ISI agenda of dividing the Sikh community amid the birth anniversary celebrations of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, said the CM.