India proposes July 11-14 dates for fresh discussion with Pakistan on Kartarpur corridor

PTI, Jun 30, 2019, 9:47 AM IST

New Delhi: India has proposed July 11-14 to Pakistan to hold a fresh round of talks on the Kartarpur corridor, sources said on Saturday.

India had earlier conveyed its strong concerns to Pakistan over the presence of a leading Khalistani separatist in a committee appointed by Islamabad on the Kartarpur project. New Delhi had also sought clarifications from Islamabad over certain other issues related to the project.

When asked whether India had proposed new dates for talks on the issue and if it meant that the earlier issues holding up the process of dialogue had been resolved, a source in the know of the developments said, “Yes. Shows our commitment to the corridor.” The proposed dates for the talks were July 11-14, sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter written in response to a congratulatory message from his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, had called for “early operationalisation of the Kartarpur

corridor, which is functional all the year round”, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Modi’s letter was sent to Khan on June 12. The current status of the project is that there have been three technical-level discussions.

In November 2018, Pakistan agreed to set up the border-crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak, to Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district.

Kartarpuris located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the Ravi river, about four km from Dera Baba Nanak. The first meeting to finalise the modalities for the corridor took place on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border on March 14.

Technical experts of the two countries met on March 19 during which alignment, coordinates and several other engineering aspects of the proposed corridor were discussed.

However, on March 29, India conveyed its strong concerns to Pakistan over the presence of a leading Khalistani separatist in a committee appointed by Islamabad on the Kartarpur project.

India had also postponed a previously-agreed meeting on the project, which was to be held on April 2 in Wagah, on the Pakistani side. On May 27, Indian officials held a meeting to discuss the modalities for the project.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had, on November 26 last year, laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district. Two days later, the Pakistani prime minister laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal, around 125 km from Lahore.