New Delhi: Amid exchange of fire and verbal volleys, India and Pakistan on Thursday signed the agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor that will allow visa-free pilgrimage on the occasion of Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary next month.
The document was signed at the zero point on India-Pakistan border on Thursday noon by India’s joint secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, S.C.L. Das, and Pakistani foreign ministry official, Mohammad Faisal.
Shortly after the ceremonial signing, India launched the online portal for registration of pilgrims. Faisal said Pakistan expects the first batch of pilgrims to cross the border on November 9.
“With the signing of the agreement, we have a formal framework for operationalising the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor,” Das told reporters in Amritsar.
The Corridor will allow Indian and Indian-origin pilgrims of all faiths to start their journey from Dera Baba Nanak to Gurudwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.
India is building a four-lane highway and a passenger terminal building at the international border, which Das stated would be finished by the end of this month.
Construction work underway at the Kartarpur Corridor on Pakistan’s side. Gurdwara Darbar Sahib is seen in the background. Photo: PTI
The senior Indian official also said that India would like to press Pakistan to fulfil its assurance to build a bridge on their side at the earliest, which would allow for “all weather connectivity” through the corridor.
Once a pilgrim is registered and provides their choice of travel day, they will be informed of their confirmation by SMS and email, around three to four days before the chosen date. They would also be sent an electronic travel authorisation, which would have to be shown when they arrive at the passenger terminal building.
As per the agreement, India will have to provide a list of pilgrims 10 days before the day of their journey. Indian pilgrims will only have to carry a valid passport, while Indian origin applicants will have to show an additional OCI card.
Pakistan will examine the passport, but will not stamp it. The corridor will be open from dawn to dusk, with pilgrims having to return on the same day. It will be operational throughout the year, except on notified days.
Pakistan has also assured that there will be provisions for langar and distribution of prasad at the gurudwara.
The Indian side again reiterated that it was disappointed that Pakistan had refused to waive the fee of $20 per pilgrim per visit.
“It was stressed time and again, including in the previous three joint secretary-level meetings and at the diplomatic level, that this is not in consonance with the religious and spiritual sentiments of Indian pilgrims…However, in the interest of the pilgrims and timely operationalisation of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor before the 550th Prakash Purb, India has agreed to sign the agreement today. While the agreement has been signed, government of India continues to urge this issue with the government of Pakistan to reconsider its insistence on levying the fee. India remains ready to amend the agreement accordingly,” said Das.
Also read: Kartarpur Corridor: India and Pak Agree 5,000 Pilgrims Will Travel ‘Visa-Free’ Daily
Officials from two sides have also formulated a list of prohibited objects that pilgrims will not be able to carry.
While all types of kirpan will be permitted, all other knives and blades, firearms and explosive substances are banned on the corridor. The pilgrims also cannot carry any maps and literature, either in physical or digital form, with “incorrect depiction of external boundaries of India and Pakistan”.
According to Ministry of External Affairs’ Deepak Mittal, India has got an assurance from Pakistan that pilgrims will not be subjected to pro-Khalistani propaganda during their visit.
Even as India and Pakistan signed the agreement on Thursday, they continued to exchange bullets across the Line of Control and lobbed verbal volleys at each other.
India has termed Pakistan’s tour for diplomats in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir on October 22 as “drama”.
“Pakistan has been doing this kind of naked propaganda. They had taken some diplomats (to PoK). We know that whenever they take diplomats, they try to show a completely different thing,” said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
He asserted that if Pakistan was “serious”, it should take diplomats to places to show how it was “taking credible, irreversible and verifiable action against terrorism”.
On Sunday, the Indian Army chief had claimed to have destroyed terror launchpads in PoK, which resulted in intense cross border firing that led to casualties in both sides.
“This is public knowledge that they have launch pads along LoC in PoK that are used to infiltrate terrorists into India,” said Kumar.