Pakistan shares Kartarpur draft pact

New Delhi: Pakistan on Monday said it has shared with India the draft of a pact that, once signed, will allow Indian pilgrims to visit a Sikh shrine in Pakistan through a corridor.

“In line with PM Imran Khan’s commitment to open the Kartarpur Corridor on the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in November 2019, the government of Pakistan has shared the draft agreement .. for facilitation of (Indian) Sikh yatris (pilgrims) to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur” in Pakistan’s Narowal district, the Pakistan foreign office said.

The draft pact was given to the Indian high commission in Islamabad, according to the foreign office statement distributed by the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi. “Pakistan has appointed the director-general (South Asia & SAARC) as focal person on Pakistan’s side and requested India designate a focal person at its end” to conclude the pact, it said.

“The government of Pakistan also invited the government of India to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate and finalise the agreement,” it said.

New Delhi has received the draft of the agreement that aims to finalise the documents needed for pilgrims to cross over, besides other matters, confirmed a person familiar with the developments on the Indian side.

The Kartarpur corridor will connect the shrines of Dera Baba Nanak Sahib in Gurdaspur district of Punjab in India with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.