KARTARPUR, Pakistan — In a landmark peace move, the Pakistan government opens the Kartarpur Corridor today, for the followers of Guru Nanak, allowing them to visit the revered Sikh Guru’s final resting place without a visa.
For the first time, Sikh pilgrims will be able to travel visa-free to major Gurdwaras in Pakistan via the Kartarpur corridor inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday.
“We believe that the road to prosperity of region and bright future of our coming generation lies in peace,” Khan said.
12th November 2019 marks the 550th birthday of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. Guru Nanak spent the last years of his life in Kartarpur, about 2.5 miles from the Indian border northeast of Lahore.
They could either fly to Lahore or cross via a checkpoint on the main road between Lahore and Amritsar, India. But both routes require visas.
Lifetime wish
For up to 30 million Sikhs around the world, the shrine, a white-domed building, has remained tantalisingly close but out-of-reach for decades.
The border near the Gurdwaras, however, has remain closed for the past 72 years since the two countries were created during a bloody partition that displaced millions.
The opening of the corridor for Sikh pilgrims has sparked hopes for more overtures between the two countries.
Upkar Singh, 55, traveled from his home in London to fulfill his grandfather’s wish to visit the temple.
“This is our motherland,” Singh said. “This corridor has broken barriers and united people from all religions.”
Saturday’s opening of the land corridor comes days before Guru Nanak’s 550th birthday on November 12 – a significant anniversary.
“Our lifetime wish has been fulfilled, we never imagined this,” said Manees Kaur Wadha, an Indian pilgrim who arrived in Pakistan last week after managing to secure a visa, and was already at the shrine early on Saturday.
“Since childhood our elders had told us so many stories of Pakistan. They left from here. But we never imagined we would ever be able to see it and have these feelings,” he told AFP news agency.
Sikhs from other countries have also been arriving in Pakistan in recent days to celebrate the November 12 occasion in the South Asian country.
Pilgrims could be seen on both sides of the border on Saturday morning readying for the corridor’s inauguration.
Workers laid out dozens of coloured cushions, bright against the white of building, in preparation.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “This is the holiest place for Sikhs, like Medina (in Saudi Arabia) is for for Muslims. “I am glad to see happiness on your faces.“
Sikhs being unable to visit the Kartarpur shrine was like Muslims not visiting Madina – the second holiest city in Islam.
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