India, Pakistan likely to hold last technical talks on Kartarpur Corridor today

Kartarpur Corridor project is expected to be opened in November for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism.

Islamabad/New Delhi: Despite the escalating tensions over Kashmir, officials from India and Pakistan will meet on Friday to discuss the Kartarpur Corridor project.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammed Faisal had earlier said that both sides will hold a technical meeting at Zero Point on the border on Friday.

"India concurred with Pakistan's proposal, and the technical meeting on Kartarpur Sahib corridor is being held on August 30 at Zero Point," Faisal said at a briefing on Thursday.

"Pakistan remains committed to completing and inaugurating the Kartarpur Sahib corridor as announced by our Prime Minister," he added.

Ahead of last round of technical talks, India had proposed another round of talks on Kartarpur project in the first week of September at Attari on the Indian side of the border. If Pakistan agrees, this will be the 3rd India Pakistan officials meet, the first was in March and the second was in July.

The focus of the meet will be to finalise the agreement on the modalities for Kartarpur Corridor and will follow a technical-level meeting to finalise the alignment of the temporary road, as agreed by Pakistan in July for the corridor. During the 2nd round of talks between India and Pakistan officials on July 14, Islamabad agreed to construct a bridge over the old Ravi creek that will allow all-weather pilgrimage to the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib, throughout the year.

Another issue which is likely to be discussed will be modalities on the exchange information about using the corridor and modalities to deal with emergencies such as medical cases, during operation of the corridor.

Pakistan has said that it will go ahead with the cross-border Kartarpur Corridor project, to be opened in November for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism.

The Kartarpur Gurdwara, located on the bank of river Ravi in Pakistan, is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India`s Gurdaspur district, and about 120 km northeast of Lahore. 

Guru Nanak had lived there for 18 years until his death in 1539.

India-Pakistan ties have nose-dived after New Delhi revoked special status to Kashmir earlier this month. 

Pakistan, which has termed it as an act of "annexation", has snapped trade ties as well as people-to-people connect with India and also asked the Indian envoy to return.

(With Agency inputs)