Demand for the construction of a Special Corridor
Sikh's apex body Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandhak Committee on Tuesday made a strong demand for the construction of a special corridor linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district with Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna, SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said the corridor to the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, located about 3 kms from the Indo-Pakistan border, would enable Sikh devotees to walk to the shrine and return on the same day without passport and visa documents.
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The historic Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara holds great significance for Sikhs as first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life there. The distance between Dera Baba Nanak and Kartarpur Sahib is a mere 3 km and Sikhs have for long been demanding unrestricted access to the historic shrine through a visa-free corridor connecting the two places. The corridor, when constructed, would be an important channel of hassle-free pilgrimage for the devotees as compared to the long, strenuous journey through circuitous route via Wagah, Lahore and Narowal.