Experts from India, Pak to meet on July 14 to discuss modalities of Kartarpur corridor: FO

Experts from India and Pakistan will meet on Sunday at the Wagah border to discuss the draft agreement for finalising the modalities of the Kartarpur corridor and related technical issues, Pakistan Foreign Office said on Thursday.

The corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district and facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims, who will have to just obtain a permit to visit Kartarpur Sahib, which was established in 1522 by Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev.

"The Indian delegation will come to Pakistan for the talks to be held at Wagah," Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Muhammad Faisal said at his weekly news briefing.

The FO on July 2 said that Pakistan has proposed July 14 for the second round of talks with India to discuss the draft agreement, which was accepted by New Delhi.

The first meeting of officials of Pakistan and India to finalise the modalities of the landmark corridor was held in Attari in the shadow of escalating bilateral tensions in March following the Pulwama terror attack by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed on February 14.

India had conveyed its concerns over the presence of several Khalistani separatists in a committee appointed by Pakistan on the Kartarpur corridor.

Last November, India and Pakistan agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.

Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan's Narowal district across the river Ravi, about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.

Two days later, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Narowal, 125 km from Lahore.

Early this month, Pakistan government earmarked Rs 100 crore in the federal budget 2019-20 for the development of the much-awaited corridor.

The funds will be used for land acquisition and development of infrastructure of Kartarpur under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the next financial year 2019-20.