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Nearly 130k pilgrims used Kartarpur Corridor to visit Gurdwara

As a precautionary measure to contain and control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the Kartarpur Corridor was temporarily suspended from March 16, 2020….reports Asian Lite News

Since its inauguration on November 9, 2019, the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor has been used by around 1,30,000 pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan, the Parliament was told on Thursday,

An agreement between India and Pakistan for the facilitation of pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, Pakistan, was signed on October 24, 2019 in order to fulfil the long-standing demand of Indian citizens and Overseas Citizens of India, to have easy and smooth access to the holy Gurdwara nd to operationalise the corridor in time for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

“The agreement, inter alia, provides for visa-free travel of Indian pilgrims as well as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders, from India to the holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan, on a daily basis,” he said.

As a precautionary measure to contain and control the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the Kartarpur Corridor was temporarily suspended from March 16, 2020. With the improvement in the Covid-19 situation, the corridor was reopened to pilgrims on November 17, 2021.

“With regard to the visit of Indian pilgrims to Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, there exists a Bilateral Protocol signed between India and Pakistan in 1974, under which visits to various religious shrines in Pakistan, including Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, are regularly facilitated. This year, the Government of India facilitated the visit of around 4,790 Indian pilgrims to Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan,” he added.

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India summons Pak envoy over photo-shoot at Kartarpur Sahib

The incident generated widespread hue and cry in India and the world with members of the Sikh community demanding tough action against the model and the clothing brand…reports Asian Lite News.

India on Tuesday summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affairs Aftab Hasan Khan and conveyed its deep concern at the incident of desecration of the sanctity of Gurudwara Shri Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur by a Pakistani model and a clothing brand.

A Lahore-based clothing brand had recently posted pictures of a photo-shoot done by a model at Darbar Sahib Gurdwara on its social media accounts. The model that featured in the pictures didn’t have her head covered, which is required by all visitors to Sikh shrines.

The incident generated widespread hue and cry in India and the world with members of the Sikh community demanding tough action against the model and the clothing brand.

“Pakistani Charge d’Affaires was summoned today to convey our deep concern at the incident of desecration of the sanctity of Gurudwara Shri Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur by a Pakistani model and clothing brand,” Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said in response to a media query over the incident.

“It was conveyed that this reprehensible incident has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community in India and worldwide. Such continued incidents of desecration and disrespect of places of religious worship of the minority communities in Pakistan highlight the lack of respect for the faith of these communities,” he added.

“It was further conveyed that we expect Pakistani authorities to sincerely investigate this matter and take action against those involved,” the MEA Spokesperson further added.

The MEA Spoksesperson’s response came a day after the clothing brand posted on Instagram, pictures of Pakistani Model Sauleha from a shoot at Kartarpur Sahib, drawing flak across social media for posting ‘bareheaded photos’ that hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.

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