The foreign ministry on Monday hailed the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and said the opening "fulfilled the long-awaited desire of Sikh community from all over the world".
The corridor was opened on November 9, 2019, by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the eve of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
"Kartrapur has a special significance in the Sikh religion, as the first Guru of Sikhism, Baba Guru Nanak Saheb, had spent the last years of his life in Kartarpur," said the statement by the ministry.
Referring to the earlier lockdown measures taken due to the coronavirus pandemic, Islamabad said the corridor was closed on March 16, but was later reopened on June 29 with necessary health and safety guidelines.
However, the ministry said India had yet to reopen the corridor from its side of the border and "allow the Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Saheb".
Recalling the earlier visit by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the foreign ministry said the diplomat had referred to Kartarpur as the 'Corridor of Hope' and he had also immensely appreciated the initiative by Pakistan.
Earlier, the ministry categorically rejected the “baseless and fallacious” Indian claims that the management of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur has been transferred to a non-Sikh body.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had claimed that it received representations from the Sikh community expressing grave concern over the decision to transfer the management and maintenance of the gurudwara from the PSGPC to the administrative control of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body.
“The malicious propaganda by the Indian government is simply an attempt to malign the “Peace Corridor” initiative by casting mischievous aspersions against the interests of the Sikh community and to detract attention from India’s own reprehensible human rights violations of minorities in India, said the the FO statement.
from News Updates From Pakistan - Pakistani News - The Express Tribune https://ift.tt/35czoof
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