India-Pak Kartarpur Pact Signing Deferred to 24 October: Report

Image used for representational purposes.

(Photo: KM Chaudary/AP)

The signing of an agreement between India and Pakistan on the Kartarpur Corridor, scheduled for Wednesday, 23 October, will be postponed by a day, sources told news agency PTI.

The inauguration date has also been pushed back from 8 November to 9 November, according to IANS.

The Indian government on Monday had agreed it would sign an agreement with Pakistan to operationalise the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, but asked Islamabad to reconsider its demand of charging USD 20 service fee per pilgrim.

The external affairs ministry, in a statement, had said it was ready to sign the agreement on 23 October to operationalise the cross-border corridor to Darbar Sahib gurdwara in Kartarpur before 12 November in view of the long-pending demand of pilgrims to have visa free access to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.

The statement called Pakistan’s proposed service fee as a “matter of disappointment” and reiterated the government’s request to withdraw it.

“It is a matter of disappointment that while understanding has been reached on most of the elements for facilitating the visit of pilgrims from India, Pakistan continues to insist on levying a service fee of USD 20 per pilgrim per visit,” the MEA said.

It also said, “In view of the long pending demand of the pilgrims to have visa-free access to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib and in the interest of operationalisation of the corridor in time before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak falling on 12 November 2019, (the) government has today conveyed that we would be ready to sign the agreement on Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on 23 October 2019.”

Pak Making ‘Business Out of Faith’: Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Earlier, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal slammed Pakistan for its insistence of charging USD 20 as service fee from Indian devotees for visiting Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara, saying that the neighbouring country has made a "business out of faith".

"The USD 20 fee each charged by Pakistan for Kartarpur Sahib darshan is atrocious. How will a poor devotee pay this amount?” Harsimrat said in a tweet, adding,

“Pakistan has made a business out of faith. Imran Khan’s statement that this fee will boost Pakistan’s economy and result in earning foreign exchange is highly shameful.”

Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had also lashed out at Pakistan for demanding the USD 20 service charge, saying it was tantamount to "putting a ticket" on visiting the historic gurudwara.

In a major initiative last November, both India and Pakistan had agreed to set up the Kartarpur corridor.

BACKGROUND

The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the Ravi river.

Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the Ravi river, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.

Pakistan is building the corridor from the Indian border to the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, while the other part from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur up to the border is being built by India.

The four-lane highway connecting the Zero Point of the Kartarpur Corridor up to National Highway-354 is being constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

The corridor will be opened in November in the wake of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS)