Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood has invited his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, Chief Minister of Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidu to Pakistan.
The Foreign Minister took to Twitter on Saturday to state that three Indian politicians were invited to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at Kartarpur on Nov 28, 2018.
“”On behalf of Pakistan I have extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj @SushmaSwaraj ,Capt Amarinder Singh @capt_amarinder & Navjot Singh Sidhu @sherryontopp to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at #Kartarpura on 28 Nov, 2018.#PakistanKartarpuraSpirit,” Qureshi tweeted.
it may be recalled that recently Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had compared the Kartarpur border corridor with the Berlin Wall. “Had anyone ever thought that the Berlin Wall would fall? May be with the blessings of Guru Nanak Devji, this Kartarpur corridor will not just remain a corridor, but act as a bridge between the peoples of the two countries,” PM Modi had said at a function to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev at New Delhi.
Kartarpur Sahib is located across Ravi river in Pakistan and is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. The demand to build a corridor linking India’s border district of Gurdaspur with a historic gurudwara in Pakistan has been a long-pending demand of the Sikh community.
The corridor, once built, will give Indian pilgrims easy access to the shrine in Kartarpur.
On Friday, Pakistan welcomed the move and conveyed its decision to open the Kartarpur corridor in 2019 for Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while briefing the National Assembly , said that the government decided to open the Kartarpur corridor in 2019. THE NEWS