Says ‘We want civilised ties with India’
AMN / Lahore
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan today performed the groundbreaking of the long-awaited corridor connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur area of Narowal district to Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur district today, in presence of top Indian delegation.
A large number of Sikh yatris ─ both local and Indian ─ along with Indian Minister for Food Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Minister for Housing Hardeep S. Puri, Indian Punjab Minister of Local Government, Tourism, Cultural Affairs, and Museums Navjot Singh Sidhu, and Indian journalists and foreign diplomats were presenting the ceremony.
Pak Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed, and Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi are also in attendance.
The event began with a video briefing on the steps that will be undertaken to facilitate Sikh pilgrims seeking to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.
The Pakistan government is aiming to open the four-kilometre-long visa-free corridor on Baba Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary next year.
In the first phase of the project set to be completed before the Nov 2019 target, a boarding terminal will be set up near the border. Transportation will be arranged to shuttle pilgrims possessing a special permit to the gurdwara. An 800-metre-long bridge will also be built for this purpose across the River Ravi. Accommodation for 10,000 pilgrims will be prepared in this phase.
In the second phase, hotels and other accommodation will be constructed to house pilgrims arriving with visas. A 300-metre track starting from the border will be built for pilgrims carrying special permits, after which a 4.5km road will also be constructed from the border terminal to the gurdwara. From there, pilgrims will be able to travel by foot or in cars.
‘We want civilised ties with India’: Imran Khan
While appreciating the presence sikh delegats from India and other part of the world, Paksitan Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “Pakistan and India cannot conceive of the opportunities God has given us. Whenever I visited India for conferences, I was told that politicians are united, but the army won’t allow friendship,” he claimed.
“I am saying today, that our political leaders, our army, and all other institutions are all on one page. We wish to move forward, we want a civilised relationship. We have just one problem, Kashmir. If man can walk on the moon, what problems are there that we cannot resolve?” he asked.
“I assure you that we can solve this problem. But determination and big dreams are both necessary. Imagine, once trade begins, once our relationship is improved, how much both nations could benefit,” he said. “Both countries can get ahead.”
“War cannot take place between us. Both countries have nuclear arms, it would be madness,” he said.
“The citizens of both countries want peace. It is just the leadership which needs to be on one page.”
“If India takes one step forward, we will take two steps forward in friendship,” he reiterated.
“I don’t understand why Navjot Singh Sidhu was criticised so harshly when he visited last,” the prime minister said.”
The premier joked that Sidhu had accumulated such a large fan following in Punjab that if he ran in elections here, he would win.
“I am hoping that we don’t have to wait until Sidhu becomes prime minister for there to be peace between India and Pakistan,” he added.
“The happiness I see in you today, if I were to explain to my Muslim brother and sisters, is that imagine that you are standing 4km outside Madina and cannot go in, and you are then given the chance to go. That is the happiness I see here.”
“We will keep improving the Kartarpur darbar for you,” he told Sikh pilgrims. “We will keep giving you facilities … When you come next year, we will provide you with every sort of facility,” he said.
“Where Pakistan and India stand today, we have seen such a situation for 70 years now,” PM Khan said. “We will stay stuck this way unless we break the shackles of the past and stop blaming each other. There have been mistakes on both sides.”
“We should not live in the past. It should be used to learn lessons,” he asserted.
“We still do not have the resolve to decide that, no matter what, we must improve our ties,” he said. “France and Germany, who have fought so many wars, are now living as neighbours. They have trade ties despite killing thousands of each other’s people. But their leaders one day decided that we will break their shackles and they did.”