India renews deal with Pakistan to extend Kartarpur Corridor deal for Sikh pilgrims

New Delhi: India on Tuesday inked an agreement with Pakistan to extend the validity of a 2019 agreement, which had opened a corridor to allow pilgrims from the country to cross over to the neighbouring country to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, one of the holiest shrines for the Sikhs.

“India and Pakistan have renewed the agreement on Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for the next five years. PM @narendramodi’s government will continue to facilitate our Sikh community’s access to their holy sites,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar posted on X.

New Delhi renewed the agreement with Islamabad at a time when the Khalistani Sikh extremists in Canada and the United States, as well as in the rest of the West, had stepped up their campaign against India.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in Ottawa accused India of playing a role in the assassination of Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada on June 18, 2023. The US too accused an official of the Government of India of being involved in a foiled plot to assassinate another Khalistani Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

The Gurdwara by the river Ravi at Kartarpur in Pakistan is revered as among the holiest for the Sikhs as it marks the place where Guru Nanak lived for 18 years and finally breathed his last in 1539. The governments of two countries had in 2019 built a corridor to facilitate travel by the pilgrims from India to the shrine in Pakistan.

The corridor was inaugurated in November 2019.

The agreement, signed on October 24, 2019, to facilitate the visit of pilgrims from India to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, Narowal, Pakistan through the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, was valid for five years. “Extension of the validity of the agreement will ensure uninterrupted operation of the corridor for use by the pilgrims from India to visit the holy Gurdwara in Pakistan,” the Ministry of External Affairs stated on Tuesday.

In view of the continued requests of pilgrims regarding the removal of $20 service charge levied by Pakistan per pilgrim per visit, India has once again urged Pakistan to not levy any fee or charges on the pilgrims.