Kartarpur Corridor: Delhi awaits Pak team for draft agreement

ISLAMABAD: New Delhi has communicated to Islamabad through the Twitter diplomacy that it looks forward to a visit of Pakistani officials on March 13 to finalise the draft agreement on the historic Kartarpur Corridor.

Both sides interacted on the social media without issuing any formal statements. Pakistan has agreed to allow its team to visit New Delhi and expects the Modi government to agree to a meeting on March 13 and a second one which sees an Indian delegation visiting Islamabad on March 28.

The Indian External Affairs Ministry (EAM) spokesperson tweeted, "We welcome the visit of Pakistan team to discuss and finalise modalities for facilitating visit of pilgrims through Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on March 13. Follow-up meeting can be held in Pakistan as required".

India also suggested that for "expeditious realisation of the Kartarpur Corridor technical level discussions between engineers on both sides (should be held) without waiting for discussion on the modalities.

Earlier, last month Pakistan had invited the Indian side to visit Islamabad to finalise the draft agreement but New Delhi replied that it was ready to host a Pakistani delegation in New Delhi in end of February or early March.

There had been no response by Islamabad to this Indian invitation till Thursday, when it responded positively suggesting new dates. Thursday’s proposal comes soon after Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in an interview said he was ready to sit and talk to India but questioned whether the Indian side was ready.

The government says this proposal was being made “in a spirit of constructive engagement so that the Pakistan delegation may visit India on March 13, followed by the return visit of the Indian delegation on March 28 to finalise the draft agreement for the Kartarpur corridor”.

Pakistan’s proposal came through a Tweet from the Foreign Office spokesman saying, “We look forward to positive reciprocity from India”. Earlier last month Pakistan had informed the Indian High Commission to urgently send a delegation to Islamabad to negotiate and finalise a draft agreement for facilitating the Indian Sikh Yatrees to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur.

New Delhi did not agree to a visit to Pakistan and instead responded the very next day by saying that it was ready to receive a delegation from Pakistan either on February 26 or March 7 to discuss and finalise modalities so that the Indian pilgrims can visit the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor at the earliest.

Both sides are engaged on the issue so that the Kartarpur Corridor is ready for the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in November, 2019.