2 Union ministers to attend groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor in Pak

Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri will travel to Pakistan next week for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj conveyed to Islamabad Saturday.

Swaraj's response came hours after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi invited her to visit Pakistan to attend the ceremony on November 28.

In a letter to Qureshi, Swaraj thanked her Pakistani counterpart for the invite and said she was unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib due to prior commitments including election campaign in Telangana and that India will be represented at the ceremony by Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Puri.

"Since I am unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib on the scheduled date, Government of India will be represented by my esteemed colleagues Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Mr H S Puri (sic)," she tweeted.

Swaraj also hoped that the Pakistan government will ensure that the construction of the corridor is expedited so that "our citizens can pay their respects at the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor as soon as possible.