New Delhi (NVI): Indian Sikh pilgrims visiting Kartarpur Gurdwara in Pakistan via the soon-to-be-opened corridor will require passport, a media report said quoting Pakistan military spokesman.
According to Pakistan daily Dawn, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said Indian Sikh pilgrims would require a passport to use the Kartarpur Corridor and there will be no compromise on security or sovereignty.
The military spokesperson’s comments came after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Sikh pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur will no longer require passport and advance registration.
The daily said that the Pakistan Army Spokesperson in an interview to a private TV Channel said, “As we have a security link, the entry would be a legal one under a permit on a passport-based identity. There will be no compromise on security or sovereignty”.
On November 1, Khan tweeted that “Sikh pilgrims visiting the shrine will no longer require passport and advance registration”. He also announced that no fee will be charged on the inauguration day on November 9 and also on November 12, the day of Guru Nanak Devji’s 550 birth anniversary.
The corridor will be launched on November 9, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating the Passenger Terminal Building on the Indian side of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor at Dera Baba Nanak.
India and Pakistan on October 24 signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor, a longstanding demand of Sikhs, even as the ticklish issue of $20 service fee imposed by Islamabad remained unresolved.
