80 counters set up to facilitate Kartarpur pilgrims

Pilgrims will undergo biometric screening entering Gurdwara Darbar Sahib

LAHORE: The interior ministry has set up 80 immigration counters to facilitate pilgrims at the Kartarpur Corridor.

This will speed up the clearance process and facilitate the large number of pilgrims who are expected to show up at one of the Sikh community’s holiest site.

The immigration department will handle a maximum of 5,000 pilgrims each day.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) will send a clearance list of the pilgrims to the Indian border force 10 days before their arrival.

The authorities have built three entry gates to facilitate the pilgrims from India. Pilgrims returning to India will be routed through a designated gate.

They will have their passports scanned on their arrival before they are transported to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in special buses with Pakistan Rangers squads deployed for their protection.



Pilgrims from both Pakistan and India will undergo biometric screening before being permitted to enter Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. They will be able to exit from the same gate which they used for entry while undergoing the verification.

Any pilgrim whose passport is in the blacklist will not be able to have their name in the clearance list.

To facilitate operations at the corridor, the interior ministry has appointed two assistant directors and a deputy director in addition to 169 inspectors and sub-inspectors, constables and female constables.

Pakistan Rangers officials will collect $20 from each pilgrim at Zero-Point.

An immigration hall has been built at Zero-Point, four kilometres away from Darbar Sahib, to facilitate the pilgrims.

A maximum of 5,000 pilgrims will be allowed to enter Pakistan and they would be required to leave on the same day at 5pm. No pilgrim will be permitted to stay at Darbar Sahib. However, pilgrims will not be subjected to any restrictions for re-entry after they have passed through the clearance process.

The immigration staff of the FIA will mark the passports of the pilgrims with entry and exit stamps. A designated gate has also been built for Pakistani Sikhs arriving at Darbar Sahib and they will also undergo biometric verification as part of the security protocol.

Pakistan and India recently signed an agreement to open the Kartarpur Corridor for Indian Sikh pilgrims without a visa.

The corridor -- about six kilometres long -- will connect Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, the last resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev Ji, with Dera Baba Nanak Sahib, another Sikh holy site in the Indian state of Punjab.

Prime Minister Imran Khan will formally inaugurate the corridor on November 9, well before the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak.