India slams Pak for stopping postal mail service
The $20 fee each charged by Pak for Kartarpur Sahib darshan is atrocious. How will a poor devotee pay this amount? Pakistan has made a business out of faith
HARSIMRAT BADAL , Union minister
identified.
The Indian side took the initiative to put in place state-of-theart infrastructure and open the corridor on the occasion of the birth anniversary so that pilgrims from India and people holding Overseas Citizen of India cards could visit the gurdwara in Pakistan, the statement said.
“While agreeing to sign the agreement, the government of Pakistan has been once again urged to reconsider its insistence to levy service fee on pilgrims. India would be ready to amend the agreement accordingly at any time,” it added.
HT had earlier reported India and Pakistan were expected to sign the agreement despite serious misgivings in New Delhi over conditions set by Islamabad, including the service fee.
There will not be any joint event by the two sides marking the opening of the corridor and no senior Indian leader or official will travel to Pakistan on the occasion, the people cited above said.
India is going ahead with the agreement because of the sentiments of the Sikh community, which has for long demanded the opening of a corridor to allow pilgrims to visit the gurdwara at the site where Guru Nanak spent the last years of his life.
The people said the Union home ministry and the Punjab government are taking care of all arrangements on the Indian side and a website will be launched soon for the online registration of pilgrims.
The website will also have details on the procedures to be followed by pilgrims.
According to a tweet by Union minister Harsimrat Badal on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to inaugurate the Indian side of the corridor and flag off the first batch of 550 ‘yatris’ or pilgrims. Pakistan is expected to have a separate ceremony on its side on the same day.
“The $20 fee each charged by Pak for Kartarpur Sahib darshan is atrocious. How will a poor devotee pay this amount? Pakistan has made a business out of faith. @Imrankhanpti’s statement that this fee will boost Pak’s economy & result in earning foreign exchange is highly shameful,” Harsimrat tweeted.
NEW DELHI : A day after India carried out artillery attack on terror camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Pakistan on Monday unilaterally stopped postal mail service between the two nations.
Slamming the move by Pakistan, India said it was in contravention of international norms.
Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Pakistan resorted to the move without giving any prior notice to India.
“Pakist a n’ s deci s i o n is directly in contravention of international postal union norms. But Pakistan is Pakistan,” Prasad, who is the Minister for Communications and IT, was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The minister added that Pakistan “without any prior notice or information has stopped sending postal department’s letter to India”. It has been more than one-and-a-half months since Pakistan last accepted any postal consignment from India which forced the Indian Postal Department to put letters and mails for Pakistan on hold, too.
HTC & AGENCIES