Bollywood actor-politician Sunny Deol will be part of the inaugural procession visiting Pakistan to attend the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, the Punjab Chief Minister’s office was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, according to NDTV.
ANI quoted the BJP MP saying, “If I won’t go, who will? I’ll definitely go. It is my area and my home.”
Doel is not the only notable Indian who will be in attendance for the ceremony. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and ministers Hardeep Puri and Harsimrat Kaur Badal will also be in attendance.
For the first time in 70 years, Indian Sikhs will be able to make a pilgrimage to their holy site of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib which had virtually been inaccessible for them due to the hostile relations between Pakistan and India.
On Saturday, the first batch of 10,000 pilgrims is set to perform their rituals in the compound of the Gurdwara on the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who envisioned the construction of Kartarpur Corridor a year ago, will inaugurate the much-anticipated overland passage linking the Dera Baba Nana shrine in northwest India’s Gurdaspur with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan.
Dubbed as ‘Zero Point’, the corridor includes a bridge stretching for one-kilometre over the Ravi River, flowing between the two countries.
Pakistan has announced to allow the visit of 5,000 pilgrims to the shrine every day with additional numbers on special occasions, subject to capacity expansion of facilities.
