The Pakistan High Commission has granted Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu the visa to make a visit to Pakistan for attending the inauguration ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, said Zee Media sources, adding, however, that the cricketer-turned-politician still awaits clearance for the same from the Centre.
With a visa, the Punjab Congress legislator can cross over to Pakistan at the Wagah border but as an elected representative of an Indian state legislature, he still needs clearance from the Centre for attending any ceremony held by the Pakistan government.
The former Punjab minister had earlier written a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs seeking its permission to visit Pakistan for the Kartarpur event, where he had said that he was invited by the Pakistan government for the opening ceremony of the corridor, which will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in Punjab.
"As a humble Sikh, it shall be a great honour to pay obeisance to our great Guru Baba Nanak on this historic occasion and connect to our roots," wrote Sidhu, who a legislator from Amritsar East, "Therefore, I may be permitted to visit Pakistan for this auspicious occasion."
Sidhu has also written a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who later forwarded it to the chief secretary for necessary action.
Sidhu had come under criticism after he hugged Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa during the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan in August last year.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Indian side of the corridor on November 8, Pakistan will officially open the corridor from its side a day after, ahead of the 550th Birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak which starts on November 11.
The corridor connects the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab's Gurdaspur with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan.
Both sides had agreed last year to open the corridor to the Kartarpur corridor located in Pakistan, just a few kilometres from the International border, on the occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
Kartarpur Gurudwara has a huge significance in Sikhism since Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent the last 18 years of his life in the area where the Gurudwara stands now.
(With Zee Media newsroom inputs)
