Kartarpur corridor opens infinite possibilities: Navjot Singh Sidhu in Pakistan

Congress leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu hailed the Kartarpur corridor on Tuesday and said in Lahore that it would open up infinite possibilities of peace and prosperity for both India and Pakistan.

Sidhu is in Pakistan and will join Imran Khan in a ceremony at the Kartarpur corridor which promises to help Sikh pilgrims from India offer prayers at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on the banks of Ravi river in Pakistan. Last week, the Centre had said it will develop and build the corridor from Punjab's Gurdaspur district to the International Border to facilitate Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur.

"People of the Sikh community have long been denied the right to worship at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur. It is good to see that that would no longer be the case," said Sidhu at an event on Tuesday. "I feel that this corridor will be a bridge and erase enmity. It will increase people to people contact and bring peace. This is a corridor of infinite possibilities, of peace, of prosperity, of opening up of trade relations."

While Sidhu did heap praise on the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, he has faced massive criticism back home. This is primarily because he skipped the foundation-laying ceremony in India but travelled across the border for a ceremony in Pakistan. He defended his decision by saying that he had been invited by Imran Khan. A similar invitation to Captain Amarinder Singh was turned down and the Punjab CM said that if Sidhu went to Pakistan, it was his wish and decision to do so. "My responsibility to maintain law and order prevents me from going (to Pakistan)," he had said.

On his part, Sidhu said that he had sought permission from Modi government to visit the neighbouring country.