Diplomacy
Indian, Pakistani officials meet at Attari to hold talks on Kartarpur corridor
To finalize the modalities of the Kartarpur corridor, Indian and Pakistani officials met at Aatari. This is for the first time officials have met since tensions escalated between the two countries after the Pulwama attack.
Punjab: Talks begin between India & Pakistan to discuss and finalize the modalities for the #KartarpurCorridor, at Attari, Amritsar. pic.twitter.com/3dCZufpmak
— ANI (@ANI) March 14, 2019
Officials from Home, External Affairs and other ministries concerned of the two countries will attend the meeting.
The meeting will take place exactly a month after the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force troopers were killed, triggering India-Pakistan tensions.
The Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province, located 4.5 km from the border near the Dera Baba Nanak town in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district, is significant for the Sikh community as it is here that the faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev spent 18 years of his life and was his final resting place.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal, while talking to media persons before leaving for India, expressed his confidence that the dialogue on corridor could be a step forward in the right direction in the current vitiated situation from conflict to cooperation, animosity to peace and enmity to friendship.
“Opening the corridor to allow Sikhs access to their most reverential place of worship has been a longstanding request of the Sikhs. This is also reflective of the importance and primacy that Pakistan gives to all its minorities,” he added.
