New Delhi, July 9: India is consulting various stakeholders regarding re-opening of its portion of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday. The MEA's statement came days after Pakistan expressed "readiness" to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib corridor for all Sikh pilgrims. The corridor was temporarily closed on March 16 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. SGPC Requests Centre to Reopen Kartarpur Corridor.

Asked for India's stand on re-opening the Kartarpur corridor and wether India feels that Pakistan could use it for sending Khailstani terrorists, MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: "We have an agreement on Kartarpur Sahib and we are currently consulting various stakeholders in this regard." Pakistan on June 27 had said it was to reopen the corridor on June 29, which marks the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh.

"As places of worship open up across the world, Pakistan prepares to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for all Sikh pilgrims, conveying to the Indian side our readiness to reopen the corridor on 29 June 2020, the occasion of the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had tweeted. India had called it an attempt to create "a mirage of goodwill".

Official sources had told IANS said that Pakistan is trying to "create a mirage of goodwill" by proposing to reopen Kartarpur Corridor on June 29, at the short notice of two days, while bilateral agreement provides for information to be shared by India with Pakistan side at least seven days before the date of travel. This would need India to open up the registration process well in advance, the sources added.

The 4.2 km corridor links Dera Baba Nanak town in Gurdaspur district with Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Shakargarh tehsil in Narowal district of Pakistan. India and Pakistan in October 2019 signed an agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor to allow Indian pilgrims a visa-free visit to the holy gurdwara, believed to have been built on the site where Guru Nanak died in the 16th century, and located some 4 km inside Pakistan. (With agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2020 07:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).