Pakistan has issued 14 key recommendations to India on the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate visa free pilgrimage by Indian Sikhs to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, where Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life.
According to a report in the Express Tribune on Saturday, Pakistan sent the recommendations in a 59-page list entailing that Indian pilgrims will be given free entry and facilitation centres and security check-posts will be set up on both sides of the border.
According to the list, the Indian government shall provide a list of pilgrims to Pakistan three days in advance and that it was mandatory for all visitors to bear a standard Indian passport.
It said pilgrims shall be allowed in groups of minimum 15 people and that Pakistan shall issue a special permit to Sikh pilgrims. Both the countries will compile a record of visitors which will include their names, travel records and other details.
The recommendations further read that all visitors shall be required to obtain a security clearance certificate from the Indian authorities. It said that Pakistan shall issue permits to 500 visitors per day and local authorities shall reserve rights to admission.
Islamabad had earlier this month rejected New Delhi’s request to swap Kartarpur with another piece of land in order to make it a part of India.
On November 28, Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur Corridor which connects Narowal’s Gurdwara Darbar Sahib to Dera Baba Nanak situated in India’s Gurdaspur. IANS