–Indian VP Venkaiah Naidu says ‘corridor will become symbol of love and peace between both countries’
Indian Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday laid the foundation stone for the construction of a corridor connecting Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur district with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur area in Narowal district.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will perform the groundbreaking of the corridor on the Pakistani side on November 28.
“The corridor will become a symbol of love and peace between both countries,” Naidu said while addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of the four-kilometre-long corridor, according to Indian media reports.
“This is a momentous and historic day […] we are fulfilling the wish of thousands of Sikh devotees,” the Indian VP was quoted as saying.
However, India’s Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in his speech issued a ‘warning’ to Pakistan to not “vitiate the atmosphere”, reported Hindustan Times.
The proposal to construct the corridor providing visa-free access to Sikh pilgrims had been renewed by Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in August this year.
Earlier, Pakistan invited Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu besides 17 Indian journalists to the Nov 28 Kartarpur corridor groundbreaking ceremony.
However, Swaraj excused herself from attending the ceremony, citing “prior commitments” but announced that India’s Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Hardeep Singh Puri will attend the ceremony in Kartarpur Sahib as representatives of the Indian government. Meanwhile, the chief minister of Indian Punjab thanked Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for the invitation but declined it in a letter addressed to the foreign minister.