India, Pakistan to hold first meet on Kartarpur Corridor at Attari today

Current Affairs
Indian and Pakistani officials will meet at Attari, near Amritsar, on Thursday to finalise modalities of the corridor to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, with India keen for visa-free access to the pilgrims to the historic shrine across the border.
The first-ever meeting on the issue, coming amid heightened tensions between both countries in the wake of Pulwama terror attack, will also discuss the alignment of the project as there is some mismatch in the coordinates.
Officials from Home, External Affairs and other ministries concerned of the two countries will attend the meeting.
Sources said that security aspect was of paramount importance and there will be no dilution in that.
They also said that Pakistan will also be conveyed that places of pilgrimage should not be used for separatist propaganda by anti-India elements. There have also been reports that Khalistan separatist groups could use the corridor route to push terrorists.
The meeting will take place exactly a month after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed, triggering India-Pakistan tensions.
India has made it clear that the meeting was in no way a resumption of a bilateral dialogue.
It has said the issue was related to emotions and sentiments of the Indian citizens of the Sikh faith and its decision regarding the meeting reflects a strong commitment to operationalize the corridor on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province, located 4.5 km from the border near the Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that the faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and was his final resting place.

Islamabad expects Kartarpur talks to resume after LS elections: Pak media

Company News

Pakistan expects to resume talks with India to finalise the agreement on the Kartarpur Corridor once the new government takes charge in New Delhi, according to a Pakistani media report.

The Kartarpur Corridor links Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Narowal with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab. The corridor, once operational, will provide a visa-free access to Sikhs from India to their holiest Shrine located inside Pakistan.

Pakistan expects the resumption of talks on the Kartarpur Corridor once the new government takes charge in India, official sources were quoted as saying by the Express Tribune on Sunday.
The last phase of six-week long general elections in India is scheduled to take place on May 19 and final results would be announced on May 23.

A senior Pakistani official said there was no delay on Pakistan's part.
"It is India that is not willing to engage at this juncture," the official added while requesting anonymity.

However, the official said Pakistan was confident that India would resume talks after the elections.The two countries, nevertheless, held technical level talks at Zero Point (Kartarpur) on April 16.

The Indian team was supposed to pay a return visit to Pakistan in April but New Delhi pulled out of the meeting at the last minute citing concerns over the committee formed by Pakistan to facilitate the Sikh pilgrims.

India as expressed concerns over the presence of several Khalistani separatists in the ten-member Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) appointed by Pakistan on the Kartarpur Corridor.


 Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.