Pakistan to open Sharda Peeth corridor in PaK: Report

The Pakistan government on Monday approved a proposal to establish a corridor that will allow Hindu pilgrims from India to visit ShardaPeeth, an ancient Hindu temple and cultural site in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to a media report.

The ShardaPeeth corridor, when opened, will be the secondreligious tract after Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan-administered territorythat will connect the two neighbouring nations.

   

India had already sent a proposal to Pakistan to open thetemple corridor, the Express Tribune reported quoting sources in Pakistan’sMinistry of Foreign Affairs.

“After Kartarpur, a piece of big news is in the offing forHindus. Some of the government officials will visit the area and will latersubmit a report to the prime minister,” the sources said.

Established in 237 BC during the reign of Ashoka, the5,000-year-old SharadaPeeth is an abandoned temple and ancient centre oflearning dedicated to the Hindu goddess of learning. Between the 6th and 12thcenturies CE, SharadaPeeth was one of the foremost temple universities of theIndian subcontinent.

It is also one of the three famous holy sites for KashmiriPandits, the other two being the Martand Sun Temple in Anantnag and theAmarnath temple.

Kashmiri Panditorganisations have been demanding opening ofthe ShardaPeeth corridor for many years now.

“Pakistan has decided to open the Sharda temple. Work on theproject will start from the current year after which Hindus in Pakistan willalso be able to visit the site,” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of theNational Assembly (MNA) Ramesh Kumar said.

“I am going to visit the place in a couple of days. I willalso send a report to Prime Minister Imran Khan,” he added.

On November last year, the Pakistani premier had laid thefoundation stone for the 4-km Kartarpur corridor at Shakargarh in Narowaldistrict of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The corridor is expected to be completed by 2019 and will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur—the final resting place of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev—with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which was established in 1522 by Guru Nanak Dev.

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