Accord on Kartarpur Corridor likely after Indian polls

New Delhi had pulled out of April meeting at last minute citing concerns over committee members

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India are expected to resume talks to finalise the agreement on Kartarpur Corridor once the new government is in place in New Delhi following the ongoing parliamentary elections in the neighbouring country.

The last phase of six-week long elections is scheduled to take place on May 19 and final results would be announced on May 23.

Official sources here told The Express Tribune that Pakistan expects the resumption of talks on the Kartarpur Corridor once the new government takes charge in India.

The India team was supposed to pay a return visit to Pakistan in April but New Delhi pulled out of the meeting at the last minute citing concerns over the committee formed by Pakistan to facilitate the Sikh pilgrims.

The two countries, nevertheless, held technical level talks at the site on April 16.

A senior official said there was no delay on Pakistan’s part. “It is India that is not willing to engage at this juncture,” the official added while requesting anonymity.

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However, the official said Pakistan was confident that India would resume talks after the elections.

This optimism stems from the fact that India cannot afford antagonising Sikhs since they have long been demanding the opening of the pathway.

The corridor, once operational, will provide a visa-free access to Sikhs from India to their holiest Shrine located inside Pakistan. This will also be the first visa-free corridor between the two nuclear armed neighbours since their independence in 1947.

The proposal to build a corridor connecting Dera Baba Nanak in India with Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan has been there for two decades. However, the proposal only began to take shape when in August, the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Pakistan was planning to open the corridor.

In November, PM Imran performed the groundbreaking ceremony to build a four km long corridor at Kartarpur. The ceremony was attended by the premier’s friend and former Indian cricketer Navjaot Singh Sidhu.

Since then, the construction work has been underway with some pace as authorities are working overnight to meet the deadline.

Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, considered the holiest place in Sikh religion because it is the last resting place of Baba Guru Nanak, is located in Narowal, only 4 kilometers away from the Indian border.

The Shrine is visible from the Indian side of the border and everyday a larger number of Sikh devotees gather to perform Darshan or sacred viewings of the site.

The two sides continued talks on the corridor despite their recent military standoff. India, which otherwise refused to engage with Pakistan, is finding it hard to run away from the Kartarpur initiative given the religious sentiments of Indian Sikhs attached to the corridor.

Some are concerned that given the hostility between the two countries, the opening of corridor may face a delay.

But Pakistan is hopeful that the Corridor will become functional on the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in November this year.