The Pakistan Foreign Office on Tuesday said it has proposed to hold a second meeting with India on July 14 to discuss the draft agreement for finalising the Kartarpur corridor project and technical matters.
“The Indian side has been requested to convey the composition of its delegation,” the foreign office said. “Pakistan remains committed to expedited progress on the matter to ensure that the corridor is operationalised in time for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak in November 2019.”
The first meeting between Indian and Pakistani officials was held on March 14 in Attari. At the meeting, India had urged Pakistan to provide visa-free access to 5,000 pilgrims a day initially, on all days of the week, to the Kartarpur shrine. New Delhi and Islamabad laid the foundation stone for the project in November. The corridor will connect Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Punjab with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur area of Pakistan’s Narowal district. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, died in Kartarpur in 1539. The corridor will allow Indian Sikh devotees to travel without visas to the pilgrimage site.
Three rounds of technical-level discussions have also been held in order to finalise matters such as infrastructure for the Kartarpur project, and crossing point, The Indian Express reported. India wants a bridge over the Zero Line and has already started building one on its side. However, Pakistan wants to construct a causeway, the newspaper quoted unidentified officials as saying. According to India, if a bridge is not built Indian areas will be flooded during monsoon when the Ravi river overflows.
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