Sushma Swaraj not to visit Pakistan for Kartarpur Sahib event on November 28

NEW DELHI: Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday night turned down invite from her Pak counterpart S M Querishi to attend ground breaking ceremony of Kartarpur Sahib corridor on Nov 28 and instead announced that two other Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Puri will undertake visit keeping in mind sentiments of the Sikh community.

Swaraj while regretting invite of Querishi due to her prior commitments including campaign in Teleghana stage announced that Harsimrat Kaur, Indian Food Processing Minister and Hadeep Puri MoS (Independent charge) Housing and Urban Affairs will represent India on the important occasion.

The Minister hoped that Pak side will expedite construction of corridor on their side for easy travel of pilgrims.


The Modi government on Thursday announced it will start construction of the Kartarpur corridor up to the international border.

"In keeping with the resolution adopted by the Cabinet today to commemorate the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji in 2019, we have approached and urged the Pakistan government to recognise the sentiments of Sikh community and build a corridor with suitable facilities in their territory to facilitate easy and smooth visits of pilgrims from India to KartarpurSahib throughout the year. Government of India has already decided to build the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border with all modern amenities on our side," MEA announced through a statement.

The Union Cabinet passed the Resolution on the Kartarpur Corridor project on Thursday after many weeks of internal consultations and preparation within the government.

"The resolution is a comprehensive document that contains detailed information on the plans for the celebration of 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, not just on the corridor. Any suggestion that the corridor or the celebrations are being planned as a response to a Pakistani proposal is not only preposterous, but hurtful to the sentiments of the Sikh community," a senior source had told ET.

The Kartarpur Sahib corridor was first proposed in 1999 when the then prime minister, Atal BihariVajpayee, took a bus ride to Lahore. Sikhs had been demanding that the two countries should revoke restrictions on movement of pilgrims to the holy shrine.

Sikh jathas are known to visit GurdwaraKartarpur Sahib on four occasions every year -- Guru Nanak's birth anniversary, Baisakhi, Guru Arjan Dev's martyrdom day and Maharaja RanjitSingh's death anniversary.