Kartarpur talks: India offers to build 100-metre-long bridge

Pakistani and Indian experts meet at border for 2nd round of technical dialogue

ISLAMABAD: India has offered to construct a 100-metre-long bridge from Dera Baba Nanak, an Indian town, to the Pakistan-India border to facilitate Sikh pilgrims travelling to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, sources told The Express Tribune.

Pakistani and Indian experts met at the border on Tuesday for the second round of technical talks on the Kartarpur Corridor.

The Pakistani delegation comprised representatives of the foreign ministry and senior officers of the Frontier Works Organisation.

According to diplomatic sources, India made the offer because travellers faced difficulties during the monsoon season.

Pakistani officials, the sources added, would send New Delhi’s offer to their respective departments for approval.

Experts from both the sides discussed the length of the corridor in addition to the construction of roads and fencing and also matters pertaining to customs and immigration.



Fifty per cent of the four-kilometre stretch of the corridor being built by Pakistan has been completed while the stretch between Zero Line to Baba Nanak’s shrine is being built by India.

India is building a passenger terminal at Zero Line at an estimated cost of Rs1.9 billion.

On March 29, India had pull out of a Kartarpur meeting which was to be held on April 2 on the Pakistani side.

The last-minute move by New Delhi prompted Islamabad to say that the historic initiative could be in danger.

India refused to send its team after raising concerns regarding the composition of the committee announced by Pakistan to facilitate the Sikh pilgrims.

Responding to the Indian concerns, Pakistan clarified that the 10-member, purely religious body -- the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee -- referred to by India was not specific to Kartarpur Sahib but was responsible for upkeep of all Sikh Gurdwaras in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Pakistan agreed to India's proposal for a meeting between technical experts from both sides on April 16.



Gurduwara Kartarpur Sahib, considered the most holiest place in the Sikh religion, is located in Narowal and is only four kilometres from the Indian border.

The shrine is visible from the Indian side of the border and every day a large number of Sikh devotees gather to perform Darshan or sacred viewings of the site.

The corridor is planned to be opened for Sikh pilgrims this year in commemoration of the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.

The proposal to build a corridor connecting Dera Baba Nanak in India with Kartar Sahib in Pakistan has been there for two decades. The idea began to take shape when Prime Minister Imran Khan took office in August last year.

In November, he laid the foundation of the corridor that is supposed to be operational on the 550th Birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in November this year.