Narendra Modi has written to Imran Khan on Kartarpur corridor, called for early operationalisation, says MEA

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter written in response to a congratulatory message by his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, has called for “early operationalisation of the Kartarpur corridor which is functional all the year round”, according the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The letter by Modi was sent to Khan on 12 June, the MEA said. “The letter was written by Narendra Modi to Imran Khan. In that, there was mention of the Kartarpur corridor and he had written ‘we will continue to work for early operationalisation of Kartarpur corridor which is functional all year round’,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in response to a question at a media briefing. [caption id=“attachment_6337061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Twitter@BJP4India[/caption] The current status is that there have been three technical-level discussions, and clarifications from the Pakistani side has been sought, he said, adding India is awaiting a response. The Indian government is committed to building of the corridor as it is a long-pending demand of the pilgrims and “we will take the steps that we have to in order to complete this”, Kumar said. In November 2018, India and Pakistan had agreed to set up the border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak, to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district. Kartarpur is located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the Ravi river, about four km from Dera Baba Nanak. The first meeting to finalise the modalities for the corridor took place on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border on 14 March. Technical experts of the two countries met on 19 March during which alignment, coordinates and several other engineering aspects of the proposed corridor were discussed. However, on 29 March, India conveyed its strong concerns to Pakistan over the presence of a leading Khalistani separatist in a committee appointed by Islamabad on the Kartarpur project. India also postponed a previously agreed meeting on the project which was to be held on April 2 in Wagah on the Pakistani side. On 27 May, officials from Pakistan and India held a meeting to discuss the modalities for the corridor. Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu and Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had on 26 November, 2018 laid the foundation stone of the Kartarpur corridor in Gurdaspur district. Two days later, Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of the corridor in Pakistan’s Narowal, 125 kilometres from Lahore.