Pakistan and India renew Kartarpur corridor agreement for Sikh pilgrimage

Pakistan has extended its agreement with India to facilitate pilgrims visiting the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Narowal for another five years, the Foreign Office announced on Tuesday.

The original agreement, signed on October 24, 2019, for a five-year term, was due to end on October 24, 2024. The renewal reflects Pakistan’s commitment to promoting interfaith harmony and peaceful coexistence.

The agreement allows Indian pilgrims to visit the sacred Gurudwara without needing a visa, where Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent his final years.

Since it first opened, the corridor has enabled thousands of worshippers to make the pilgrimage to this holy site.

The Kartarpur Corridor fulfills the long-standing wish of the Sikh community to access one of their most important religious landmarks. Pakistan sees the initiative as a way to protect the rights of religious minorities, and it has been widely praised, including by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called it a “Corridor of Hope.”

The corridor provides a visa-free crossing for Indian Sikhs to visit the temple, which is located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) inside Pakistan, where Guru Nanak died in 1539.

It was first opened in 2019 to mark Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary but was closed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Connecting Pakistani and Indian Punjab, the Kartarpur Corridor links regions that share a deep historical and cultural connection to Sikhism.

Although Sikhs are a small minority in Pakistan, many of their sacred sites are located there.