Pakistan considering India’s request for religious corridor: Envoy

Sikhs bodies have been demanding a religious corridor for several decades.

Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah on Tuesday said their government is considering the Indian authorities’ request to develop a religious corridor between Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur and Kartarpur Sahib in the neighbouring country.

Pakistan’s deputy high commissioner Syed Haider Shah (HT File)

Shah said this on the sidelines of convocation at Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana. Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib is built on the historic site where first Sikh master Guru Nanak had settled with his followers.

Shah’s statement came a day after the ministry of external affairs (MEA) summoned him to lodge a protest against alleged attempts by Islamabad to raise the Khalistan issue when Sikh pilgrims from India are visiting the country.

“We are considering India’s request to develop a corridor between the two religious sites,” he said while talking to HT.

Sikhs bodies have been demanding a religious corridor for several decades.

In August last year, a parliamentary standing committee headed by former Union minister Shashi Tharoor in its report presented in the Lok Sabha had said, “The committee visited Dera Baba Nanak and came across the long-pending demand of people for establishment of an exclusive corridor from the Indian side to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib through which pilgrims can pay homage without any visa or passport.”