Union Ministers leave for Pakistan to attend Kartarpur corridor ceremony
Amritsar/Lahore, Nov 28 (IBNS): Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday left for Pakistan to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor.
In the ceremony, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will lay the foundation stone of the corridor.
Before leaving for the neighbouring country, Puri expressed gratitude towards the Pakistan government.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was invited to attend the event, had expressed her inability to go to Pakistan and nominated Puri and Badal to be present at the ceremony.
Amid row, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu reached Pakistan a day ago to attend the ceremony despite his party leader and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh targeted his neighbour over the 'terrorist attacks' and even declined to visit the country.
Sidhu's attendance in the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as the PM had earlier stirred controversy this year.
Purpose of Kartarpur corridor:
Kartarpur is a small town in district Narowal, 4 km from the Pakistan- India border, where the founder of the Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak spent the last 18 years of his life.
Subsequently, Gurdwara Darbar Sahab was built at the site on the Pakistan side and Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak in India, which are visited by thousands of Sikhs every year.
The corridor will connect Gurdwara Darbar Sahab and Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak. The distance between the shrines is about four kilometres.
As per the Pakistan Foreign Office statement: "Opening the corridor will allow Sikh Yatrees ease of access for their most reverential place of worship which has been their longstanding demand. This is also reflective of the importance and primacy that Pakistan gives to all minorities."
Image: twitter.com/PIB_India
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