The Ministry of External Affairs and the Union Home Ministry are considering the reopening of the Kartarpur corridor. The official announcement of reopening will be made soon, sources told ANI. The corridor was shut in wake of the COVID pandemic. The visa-free 4.7-kilometre corridor joins the Indian border to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. It became operational in 2019 and was inaugurated by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The reopening of Kartarpur will assist thousands of devotees, largely Sikhs, to visit the final resting place of Guru Nanak in Pakistan. Alternatively, the devotees are visiting the shrine going via the Attari-Wagah border which requires a visa.
A source told ANI that decision to open the corridor may come ahead of Gurupurab on November 19. However, an official announcement is yet to be made. Notably, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders of Punjab recently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested to reopen the corridor.
