Kartarpur Corridor will not serve its true purpose if Passports mandated, claims Punjab CM
Posted: 15 Mar 2019 09:42 PM PDTCHANDIGARH, Punjab—To deliberate upon the modalities and the draft agreement about the Kartarpur corridor with the Indian authorities, the Pakistani delegation headed by Dr. Mohammad Faisal underwent a meeting with the Indian delegation headed by Mr. S.C.L Das on March 14 at Attari (India). In this meeting, the duo counterparts agreed upon expediting the work to make the Kartarpur corridor operational at the earliest after discussing the various aspects and provisions of the proposed agreement in detailed and constructive manner.
It is learnt that the authorities of the duo neighbor countries decided to organize a meeting of the technical experts on March 19 at the proposed zero points to finalize the alignment. Later, the duo counterparts will sit together in the next meeting scheduled for April 2 at Wagah (Pakistan).
It has come to fore that the Pakistan government has mandated the possession of Passport for the Sikh pilgrims aspirant of paying obeisance at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib via this upcoming corridor. Although, there is no clarity about this fact as the Indian authorities didn’t officially confirm it, but the Punjab Congress leaders including the chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh has started accusing the Pakistan government of depicting an irresponsible behavior on the Kartarpur corridor issue.
Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh has said that the Pakistan’s response to India’s demands was totally inadequate and it needed to reconsider its stand if the corridor was to serve its true purpose, in the spirit in which it was decided to be opened. He has also said that there should be no limit on the count of Sikh pilgrims visiting the Sikh shrines in a day.
Endorsing the Punjab CM’s views, Dera Baba Nanak’s legislator Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa claimed that there will not be a rush of Sikh pilgrims at the Kartarpur corridor as the Punjab villagers do not even know what a passport is, leave alone possessing one. He has also demanded evolution of a mechanism in which a Sikh pilgrim can apply online for a permit three days before he wants to cross over.