Pakistan nod to July 14 for Kartarpur talks

New Delhi: Pakistan has agreed to July 14 as the date for the second round of talks on the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor issue on the Pakistani side of the border at Wagah after India last week proposed a window period of July 11 to 14.

In a statement, the Pakistan foreign office said, “Pakistan, today, conveyed to India that the second meeting to discuss the draft agreement for finalising the modalities of Kartarpur Corridor and related technical issues, will be held on July 14 at Wagah. The Indian side has been requested to convey the composition of its delegation. Pakistan remains committed to expedited progress on the matter to ensure that the Corridor is operationalised in time for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak in November 2019.”

India, on June 29, proposed to Pakistan to hold the second round of meeting on the modalities to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor between July 11 to 14 at the Attari-Wagah border on the Pakistan side.

Indian government sources had last week said, “The meeting would discuss the draft agreement on the modalities for movement of Pilgrims along the Kartarpur corridor and resolve outstanding technical issues related to alignment and infrastructure along the corridor. So far, three rounds of technical level discussions have been held at the experts’ level to try and finalise the alignment, crossing point and infrastructure along the corridor.”

Indian government sources had added, “Following the decision taken by the Cabinet on November 22, 2018, India is expeditiously building the requisite infrastructure, including a 4 lane highway and a state of art passenger terminal for the corridor. More than 45 percent of work on the Indian side has been completed. It is targeted to complete the road by the end of September 2019 and the passenger/ pilgrim terminal by end of October 2019, in time to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor on the occasion of the 550th birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev falling in November 2019.”

Sources had added that the Indian government wants to ensure that pilgrims can “visit the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib easily and smoothly in a safe and secure manner, throughout the year”.