India-Pakistan meeting on Kartarpur corridor begins

TIL Desk/National/ Attari (Amritsar)/ A meeting between officials of India and Pakistan to finalise the modalities for setting up of a corridor linking the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistani town of Kartarpur with Gurdaspur district in Punjab commenced here Thursday, officials said. The talks are being held at the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border, they said.

It is the first meeting between officials of India and Pakistan to discuss the Kartarpur corridor issue, amid heightened tensions between the two nations over the Pulwama terror attack, followed by India’s pre-emptive air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps in Balakot and Pakistan’s subsequent retaliation.

In the meeting, New Delhi is likely to raise the issue of hassle-free access to the Indian pilgrims besides asking Islamabad to insulate Sikh pilgrims visiting the shrine in Pakistan from pro-Khalistan propaganda. From the Indian side, officials comprised representatives from the Union Home Ministry, External Affairs Ministry, BSF, National Highways Authority of India and the Punjab government.