Kartarpur Corridor – A Road to a new beginning

The Kartarpur Corridor is a proposed Border corridor between India and neighbouring Pakistan that connects the Sikh shrines of Dera Baba Nanak Sahib [Punjab, India] and Gurdwara Darbas Sahib Kartarpur [Punjab, Pakistan]. Recently it has been decided by the two Nations that the corridor would allow the religious devotees from India to visit the Gurdwara in Kartarpur, that is 4.7 km away from India-Pakistan border without a visa.

The Historical antecedent related to this proposal could be traced back in 1999 between Nawaz Sharif [Pakistan Prime Minister] and Atal Bihari Vajpayee [Indian Prime Minister] as part of Delhi-Lahore Bus Diplomacy. Later in 2018 both India and Pakistan laid the foundation stone for the proposed Kartarpur corridor on their respective sides.

It has been reported that the corridor would be completed before 550^th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019. If the corridor would become successfully operational then, it would have numerous positive impacts on the Political, Economic and Social relations of both the nations despite the simmering issues of Terrorism, Border skirmishes, Ceasefire violations and hostility that is there between the two Nations especially in the wake of the recently concluded Balakot strike by Indian Air Force in the Pakistani territory.

The corridor would give Indian pilgrims direct access to Kartarpur who otherwise have to take a bus to Lahore first to reach Kartarpur that is a 125 km long journey. It would promote people to people contact and foster harmony between the people of both nations.

On the political front, this step of building Kartarpur corridor would improve Diplomatic relations and Political relations as it has been the collective decision taken by the leaders of both India and Pakistan.

It would also promote better trade and economic relations between the two nations by providing the visa-free and easy access to the land of both the Nations. In the realm of International relations too, the image of India-Pakistan Bilateral relations would take a new shape thereby improving their relations in the International Bodies like SAARC.

However, India has few concerns related to the proposal of building Kartarpur corridor. First and foremost, India is sceptical and apprehensive about the corridor to be used by Pakistan to undermine India’s security by favouring the Sikh’s desire for access to the site. Further, Pakistan might also use this corridor to lend its support to Pro-Khalistan separatist movement as some of Pakistan’s Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak committee office bearers are also pro-Khalistan supporters.

There are also further concerns on the Indian side that the proposed corridor might also be used for Terrorism, cross border trafficking and drugs trafficking that would further add to the already rampant drug menace in Pakistan.

Despite the above concerns, the proposal to build a Kartarpur corridor connecting the two Sikh shrines between India and Pakistan is definitely going to be a unique experiment in India-Pakistan Bilateral ties. This would implement positively the Universality as symbolized by Guru Nanak by connecting the people of both the countries.