SGPC offers to build border corridor to Kartarpur Sahib

Shortly after Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu claimed Friday that Pakistan has decided to allow a border corridor to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara for Sikh pilgrims, the SGPC offered to build it free of cost.

Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Gobind Singh Longowal offered to get built the corridor, including a bridge on the Ravi, which was destroyed during the 1971 Bangladesh War with Pakistan, to help the pilgrims reach the shrine.

Longowal made the offer shortly after Sidhu, who knows Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan since their cricketing days, claimed the neighbouring country has decided to allow the pilgrims direct access to the shrine.

The corridor to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib means also building a bridge on the Ravi for the pilgrims to reach the shrine easily to pay their obeisance there, Longowal said.

If the corridor is constructed, it would be only 15 minutes of walking distance from the Indian side to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, he said.

The founder of Sikhism and first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev had spent his last days at Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. Sikhs from India go to Pakistan every year on a pilgrimage visa to pay their obeisance there, he said.