Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 9, 2019 flagged off the first batch of 562 pilgrims to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan through the newly built corridor linking two important Sikh shrines – Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur and Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.
The delegation included Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Cabinet Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri.
Before formally inaugurating the passenger terminal at Dera Baba Nanak and flagging off the delegation to Pakistan, Mr. Modi thanked Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, while addressing a public gathering in Shikhaar Masiahan nearby.
India and Pakistan completed the 4.7 km corridor to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of the founder of the Sikh faith on November 12, 2019.
Timeline
| The Kartarpur Corridor saw the first batch of over 550 Indian pilgrims travel to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, 20 years after the idea was proposed. The events that led to the landmark deal between India and Pakistan. | |
| February 1999 | The Kartarpur Sahib Corridor was proposed by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he took a bus ride to Lahore as a part of a peace initiative with Pakistan |
| 2000 | Pakistan agreed to allow Sikh pilgrims from India to visit the shrine visa-free (and without passport) by constructing a bridge from the Indian side of the border to the shrine |
| August 2018 | Then Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu attended Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony in Islamabad. Upon return, he said that Pakistan would open the corridor on Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. |
| November 2018 | India’s Cabinet approved the Kartarpur Corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the Pakistan border. In the same month, Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor on the Pakistan side |
| November 2019 | PM Modi flagged off the first batch of Indian pilgrims |
