Union Home Minister Amit Shah today informed via Twitter that the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor will reopen from tomorrow, two days before the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. The corridor is the road to Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan, one of the holiest places for Sikhs.
In his tweet, Amit Shah said that the decision would benefit a large number of Sikh pilgrims. The Centre had earlier blamed Pakistan for not reopening the 4.4 km corridor shut for over a year.
Sikh leaders including current Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, previous CM Amarinder Singh and Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had asked the Centre to reopen the corridor before Gurupurab.
Amarinder Singh and Navjot Sidhu welcomed the news on Twitter.
The corridor was shut in March 2020 by Pakistan, who put restrictions on travel from India amid fears of Covid outbreak. Citing improvement in the situation, Pakistan had last year expressed the willingness to reopen the corridor on June 27. Islamabad then said that it will reopen the corridor on October 3.
The corridor connects Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab's Gurdaspur to Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, in Pakistan's Punjab province, about 4 km from the International Border. The founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak is believed to have spent the last 18 years of his life there.