On the occasion of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in 2019, Pakistan would open a corridor to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib to allow Indian pilgrims to visit the shrine.
Gurdwara Darbar Sahib:
Location: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib is located at Kartarpur in Pakistan’s Narowal district. It stands on the bank of the River Ravi, about 120 km northeast of Lahore. The shrine is visible from the Indian side.
Significance: It was here that the First Sikh Guru (Nanak Dev) assembled a Sikh community and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.
Background: The gurdwara was opened to pilgrims after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid a visit to Pakistan in 1999. Since then Sikh Pilgrims are visiting the shrine regularly.
Sikh Pilgrim Corridor:
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) and political leaders in India are demanding to construct a ‘corridor’ surrounded by barbed wire to allow pilgrims from India to visit Kartarpur Sahib shrine, and return the same day. They will not require passports or visas.
Concerns:
The corridor would bring Pakistan’s infrastructure close to the Indian border which can be misused by both state and non-state actors in that country.
Over the past year, gurdwaras in Pakistan have been used for a pro-Khalistan campaign called ‘Sikh Referendum 2020’.
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