SAD welcomes Centre’s move on Kartarpur corridor

Ravi S. Singh

Tribube News Service

New Delhi, November 22

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday welcomed the Centre’s decision to approve construction of a corridor up to the Punjab border to facilitate the journey of pilgrims to the historic gurdwara Katarpur Sahib in Pakistan.

“We are grateful to the Narendra Modi government for this historic decision. The 70-year-old demand of the Sikh community to have a corridor to offer prayers at the gurdwara has been finally acceded to,” Sukhbir, flanked by his wife and Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, said.

Sukhbir said the SAD and SGPC will take a delegation to Kartarpur Sahib during Guru Nanak Dev's 550^th birth anniversary celebrations.

The construction of the corridor will be undertaken by India from the border town of Dera Baba Nanak to the international border with Pakistan.

The government has decided to urge Pakistan to construct the remaining part of the corridor in its territory.

The gurdwara, which is significant for the Sikh community since the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, spent 18 years of his life in Kartarpur till he died in 1539.

When asked if Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu’s visit to Pakistan and controversial hugging of the country’s Army Chief catalysed the Government of India’s decision on the corridor, he quipped, “I do not know”, and added, “Maybe the recent grenade attack at a religious place in Amritsar was because of it”.

He alleged that the ruling Congress in Punjab was “playing with fire”.

He said the Sikh community at large, especially the 1984 anti-Sikh riot victims, see hope only in the present government at the Centre.