Punjab Pradesh Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday expressed his happiness over the reopening of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and said that this has been made possible with the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Sidhu made these remarks at a press conference in Punjab's Gurdaspur after returning from his visit to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan.
Sidhu said, "The reopening of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor has been made possible with the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
"I request that if you want to change lives in Punjab, we should open the borders (for cross-border trade). Why should we go through Mundra Port, a total of 2,100 km? Why not from here, where it's only 21 km (to Pakistan)," he added.
His visit came after a fresh tussle erupted in Punjab Congress following the exclusion of Sidhu's name from Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi-led delegation comprising state cabinet ministers that visited the Kartarpur Sahib on Thursday.
The Kartarpur Corridor, which links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district, reopened on Wednesday. It was closed in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The visa-free 4.7-kilometre long corridor joins the Indian border to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. It became operational in 2019.
Earlier, Imran Khan government of Pakistan praised cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu for his role in the opening of the corridor to Sikh pilgrimage site Kartarpur Sahib between the two countries.
The relationship between Imran Khan and Sidhu came to the limelight in 2018 when the latter attended the oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan PM.
( With inputs from ANI )
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