New Delhi: India on Thursday announced that it will allow a 'jatha' of 1500 pilgrims to visit Pakistan via Kartarpur Corridor on the occasion of the upcoming Guru Nanak Dev's birth anniversary from November 17 to 26, 2021, ANI reported.
"It's been decided that a 'jatha' of around 1500 pilgrims will visit Pak from Nov 17-26 under 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines b/w India-Pak. Scheduled to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Sri Panja Sahib, Dera Sahib, Nankana Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara Sacha Sauda," India's MEA was quoted by ANI on its official Twitter handle.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pakistan had urged India to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor from its side and allow Sikh pilgrims to pay a visit to the holy site of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
With the recent announcement from MEA, India seems to accept Pakistan's request regarding the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor from its side for the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev.
Previously, on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor. However, months after the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, the covid-19 pandemic hit the region thus leading to the closing of the corridor.
Since March 2020, the moment of Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan via corridor has been suspended in view of the pandemic, and later Pakistan put a travel ban from people travelling from India after the surge in the covid-19 cases was reported in April 2021.
During his visit to Kartarpur Sahib in February 2020, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the Kartarpur Corridor as 'Corridor of Hope.'
(With inputs from ANI)