SIKH community across the world celebrated the first anniversary of opening of Kartarpur Corridor on November, 9. Prime Minister Imran Khan had formally inaugurated the corridor in a colorful ceremony last year on the 550th Birthday of Baba Guru Nanak, which was attended by former Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister of Indian Punjab Manendar Singh, Union Minister Ms. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, lawmaker of Congress party Naovjot Singh Sidu and larger number of followers of Sikh religion. It is pertinent to mention that before the opening of Kartarpur Corridor the Sikh Community living in the Indian Punjab near the Pakistan border could only take a distant look at Gurdwara Darbar from a distance of four kilometers. They would not have imagined that one day they will see the opening of Kartarpur corridor.
Gurdwara Darbar at Kartarpur has special importance for the Sikhs because Baba Guru Nanak, founder of Sikh religion had spent 18 years of life at this place of worship. That is why Sikh Community across the globe rightly holds in high esteem the efforts made by Pakistan to complete the construction of Kartarpur Corridor within record time. In his speech at the inauguration ceremony, Najot Singh Sidu ranked Prime Minister Imran Khan a crusader of peace. Ms. Harsimrat Kaur Badal described the opening of corridor a historic event.
The Kartarpur initiative was extensively recognised by the international community a new confidence building measure by Pakistan for peace. During his visit of Pakistan, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also paid a visit to Gurdwara at Kartarpur. He appreciated the opening of this corridor as ‘practical proof’ for peace and interfaith harmony. The corridor and Gurudura Darbar Sahib Complex was completed by government of Pakistan in a record time of10 months, which may in future serve an avenue of restoring normal relations between the hitherto arch rivals India and Pakistan. The passage links Norwal district of central Punjab to Dera Baba Nanak in the Gurdaspur Distric of Indian Punjab. The project had been proposed by former Indian Prime Minister Attal Bihari Vajpai during his visit of Pakistan in 1999 but it had remained on the backburner due lack of political will on both sides, although the process of composite dialogue between the two countries went on till its suspension in November 2008.
