Union ministers to travel to Pakistan to attend groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims

Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri will travel to Pakistan to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims on Wednesday. 

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was invited by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to attend the ceremony. 

Thanking Qureshi, Mrs Swaraj said, she will not be able to attend the ceremony because of prior commitments including campaigning for the Telangana assembly elections. 

Apart from Mrs Swaraj, Pakistan has also invited Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and minister Navjot Singh Sidhu to the ceremony. 

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will lay the foundation stone for the construction of Dera Baba Nanak-Kartarpur Sahib road corridor up to the international border with Pakistan on Monday.

 Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh will be present on the occasion. 

In a landmark decision, the Union Cabinet had on Thursday approved building and development of Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district to International Border.

 Following the resolution adopted by the Cabinet to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji in 2019, New Delhi had approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognize the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to Kartarpur Sahib throughout the year.