FM Qureshi invites Sushma Swaraj for Kartarpur groundbreaking

Indian Punjab CM, Navjot Singh Sidhu also invited to attend ceremony on Nov 28

Islamabad reached out to New Delhi once again on Saturday with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi inviting his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur border corridor on November 28.

Speaking out via microblogging site Twitter, Qureshi said that he had invited Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, as well as, Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and popular television personality Navjot Singh Sidhu to attend the event.

On behalf of Pakistan I have extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj @SushmaSwaraj ,Capt Amarinder Singh @capt_amarinder & Navjot Singh Sidhu @sherryontopp to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at #Kartarpura on 28 Nov, 2018.#PakistanKartarpuraSpirit

— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) November 24, 2018

Prime Minister Imran Khan will do groundbreaking of the event scheduled for November 28. The move to open the corridor, analysts say, might thaw the frosty relationship between the two neighbours.

On Wednesday, New Delhi announced that it would start construction of the Kartarpur corridor up to the international border with Pakistan. The announcement was immediately welcomed by Islamabad as ‘victory for peace’.

The Indian move came nearly three months after Pakistan’s army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had offered to open the route to facilitate Sikh pilgrims. The COAS told Indian cricketer-turned-politician Sidhu at the inauguration of Prime Minister Imran on August 18 that Pakistan was ready to open the route to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur for Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary.



On Friday, Sidhu told The Express Tribune that he has gladly accepted the invitation, sent by Prime Minister Imran for the November 28 event. He said the Pakistani premier was his friend and he will visit the country whenever he is invited by him.

Sidhu said he would not shy away from visiting Pakistan even if he had to crawl on his knees since the country was about to fulfill its promise of opening the Kartarpur corridor. “I don’t have words to express my joy,” he remarked on the development.

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib – located in the Kartarpur area of Narowal district of Punjab – is the final resting place of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Devji, and one of the holiest shrines of the Sikh community.