No formal communication with India on Kartarpur Sahib corridor: Pakistan

Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed that there was no formal communication with India on Kartarpur Sahib corridor.

"No formal communication with India on Kartarpur corridor. Pakistan remains open and positive," Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

The confirmation from Islamabad comes a day after External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj wrote a letter to Union Minister of Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, saying that Pakistan has issued no official statement in connection with opening the Kartarpur route for Indian pilgrims.

In the letter, Swaraj had informed that over the last few years, Pakistani authorities have only allowed a limited number of Indian pilgrims to the Gurdwara and other shrines in Pakistan. She also assured that the "government remains seized of the matter and will continue to take up the matter with Pakistan."

The entire controversy started after Congress leader and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu claimed that Pakistan will open the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak next year.

The Kartarpur route along the India-Pakistan border is 3 kilometres away from Gurdaspur, Punjab. If opened, it will allow Sikh pilgrims a direct access to the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, where Guru Nanak died in 1539.