Kartarpur Corridor Dera Baba Nanak

The Kartarpur Corridor (Urdu: کرتارپور راہداری‎, Punjabi: ਕਰਤਾਰਪੁਰ ਲਾਂਘਾ) is an under-construction border corridor between the neighbouring nations of India and Pakistan, connecting the Sikh shrines of Dera Baba Nanak Sahib (located in Punjab, India) and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur (in Punjab, Pakistan). Currently under planning, the corridor is intended to allow religious devotees from India to visit the Gurdwara in Kartarpur, 4.7 kilometres (2.9 miles) from the Pakistan-India border, without a visa.

    The Kartarpur Corridor was first proposed in early 1999 by the prime ministers of India and Pakistan, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif, respectively, as part of the Delhi–Lahore Bus diplomacy.

    On 26 November 2018, the foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor was laid down on the Indian side. Two days later, the foundation stone was laid down on the Pakistani side. The corridor will reportedly be completed before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.

    During the late 1800's, Maharaja Ranjit Singh provided a copper gilded throne to the Gurdwara and got its canopy covered with marble. The shrine is in the centre of the town and comprises three separate memorials. The well which originally belonged to Bhai Ajitta Randhava still exists and is reverently called Sarji Sahib. Pilgrims take its water home in the belief that it possesses curative properties.

    The prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, compared the decision to go ahead with the corridor by the two countries to the fall of the Berlin Wall, saying that the project may help in easing tensions between the two countries. However, Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat said on 28 November 2018 that Kartarpur should be viewed in "isolation" and not linked to anything else, adding that it was a unilateral decision.

    Currently pilgrims from India have to take a bus to Lahore to get to Kartarpur, which is a 125 km journey although people on the Indian side of the border can physically see Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the Pakistani side. An elevated platform has also been constructed for the same on the Indian side, where people use binoculars to get a good view.

Corridor Project

During the tenure of prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the opening of Kartarpur border crossing was first discussed in 1998. After further discussions during the 1999 bus diplomacy, Pakistan renovated the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, and made it available for viewing from the Indian border. The tensions arising from the Kargil War put paid to the India–Pakistan relations. However, it was reported that General Musharraf gave a 'green signal' for constructing a corridor, according to the Pakistan Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee chairman Lt.-Gen. Javed Nasir.

    Manmohan Singh, during his first term as the prime minister of India, also tabled the issue in a speech in Punjab in 2004. The 'composite dialogue process' between India and Pakistan initiated in 2004 also discussed access to Kartarpur via an Amritsar–Lahore–Kartarpur road link.

    In 2008, the Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee raised with his Pakistani counterpart S. M. Qureshi the idea of "visa-free travel" to Kartarpur. There was apparently no official response, but privately, Pakistan began to express its openness to the Sikh community. However, even up to 2012, the Indian government had no response. The stalled relations between the countries were apparently to blame.

    On 20 June 2008, at a press conference in Dera Baba Nanak arranged by Akali leader Kuldeep Singh Wadala, John W. McDonald, a former American ambassador and founder of Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, called for "a peace corridor, a peace zone" connecting shrines on both sides of the border. On 28 June 2008, the Indian foreign minister at the time, Pranab Mukherjee, said that the Indian government would carry out a feasibility study for the peace corridor. However, since the 2008 Mumbai attacks took place, the relations between India and Pakistan nosedived and the initiative appears to have died. Members of the Sikh community in Washington DC worked with the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy to carry out an independent feasibility study. In August 2010, their report titled "Kartarpur Marg" was released by Surinder Singh and the Institute. According to the report, the cost of the corridor would be 17 million US dollars, which the Sikh diaspora agreed to raise. The report had said that it would cost India $2.2 million and Pakistan $14.8 million. In November 2010 the Punjab state legislative assembly unanimously passed a resolution in favour of an international passage between the two sites and forwarded it to the Indian Union government on 1 October 2010.

    In August 2018, Punjab tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu attended the Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan's inaugural ceremony, and he was told by the army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa of Pakistan's willingness to open the Dera Baba Nanak–Kartarpur corridor on Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. Given the clear time frame, this set the ball rolling.

    In August 2018, another resolution related to the corridor in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha was moved by chief minister Amarinder Singh, which was passed unanimously. Following this the government of Punjab decided to approach the prime minister of India related to the opening of the corridor. In 30 October 2018, a group of Sikh Americans sought the Prime Minister of India's for help in opening the corridor. In November 2018, the Indian Cabinet approved the plan to set up the corridor and appealed to Pakistan to do the same. The Pakistani foreign minister S. M. Qureshi responded by tweeting that Pakistan had "already conveyed to India" that it would open a corridor.

    In August 2019, India and Pakistan agreed to allow visa-free travel of Indian citizens to Kartarpur, but differences persisted about Indian consular officers being located at the site.

Inauguration

On 26 November 2018, Indian vice president, Venkaiah Naidu, laid the foundation stone of the Dera Baba Nanak–Kartarpur Sahib Corridor at Mann, a village in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab, India.

    On 28 November 2018, the prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, laid the foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor near the Narowal district of Punjab, Pakistan. Two central ministers of India, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri were present at the event in Pakistan. In addition, Navjot Singh Sidhu and member of the Parliament from Amritsar, Gurjeet Singh Aujla were also present.

Design of Kartarpur Corridor Complex

    The Complex will have an international standard hotel, hundreds of apartments, two commercial areas and two car parking, Border Facility Area, a power grid station, tourist information Centre and several offices.