Rawalpindi (Staff Report): Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has termed opening of Kartarpur corridor a "a step towards peace".
“COAS attended Kartarpura Corridor ceremony.“It’s a step towards peace which our region needs. Barbed wire at borders is measure by a sovereign state to check / deny illegal crossings. Corridors & Gates are for legal peaceful visitors. So is the case for all our neighbors”, COAS,” the Inter Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a Tweet.
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Prime Minister Imran Khan has stressed that the Kashmir dispute can be solved if the two countries showed honest resolve.
"We will keep improving Kartarpur corridor and next year you will see all facilities will be available there," said PM Imran on Wednesday while addressing the post-groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor.
“The leadership of Pakistan and India must break free from the shackles of the past. Peace cannot be attained unless both the sides looked towards the future instead of dwelling on what has happened. It would be madness to think about a war between two nuclear powers,” he added.
The ceremony was attended by Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, government officials, Indian ministers and foreign diplomats.
The 4-km-long corridor will connect Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur district with Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan’s Narowal district. The corridor will provide visa-free access to the Indian Sikh pilgrims to the shrine.
The Gurdwara Kartarpur Darbar Sahib holds religious significance for the Sikh community. It is where Baba Guru Nanak settled down after his travels as a missionary. He lived there for 18 years until his death in 1539.
More than 3,000 Sikh pilgrims arrived in Lahore from India via special trains on Wednesday to celebrate the 549th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji from November 21-30.
The proposal to construct the corridor providing visa-free access to Sikh pilgrims was renewed by Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in August this year.
