Visa-free corridor arrangement extended for five years

THE nation and India agreed to extend the visa-free Kartarpur religious corridor for five years, marking a rare act of cooperation between the neighbours.

It comes days after Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar made a rare visit to Islamabad to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, the first by a top Indian diplomat in almost a decade.

The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free crossing that opened in 2019, allows Indian Sikhs to visit the temple in Pakistan where Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, died in 1539.

Pakistan’s foreign office in a statement on Monday announced that both countries agreed to renew the agreement for an additional period of five years.

“Its renewal underscores Pakistan’s enduring commitment to fostering interfaith harmony and peaceful coexistence,” the statement read.

The Sikh faith began in the 15th century in Punjab, a region including Kartarpur which is split today between India and Pakistan, when Guru Nanak began teaching a faith that preached equality.

Over the years the corridor has become a symbol of unity and reconciliation for families separated during the partition of Indian subcontinents, despite the lingering hostilities between the two nations.

Last week, Jaishankar made a rare visit to Islamabad but both sides emphasised that no bilateral engagements took place, as the visit was solely for participating in the SCO summit.

The Kartarpur corridor stands as a rare example of cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours, who have fought three wars and engaged in numerous skirmishes.

It is often dubbed as a “peace corridor” and during a visit in 2020 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described it as a “corridor of hope”. — AFP