07-05-2025
Kartarpur Corridor shut by India ‘until further notice' post Operation Sindoor
While the Attari-Wagah border was shut in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, the Kartarpur Corridor had remained operational until now.
The Bureau of Immigration under the Ministry of Home Affairs has closed the corridor 'until further notice'. On Wednesday, 150 pilgrims who had assembled at the integrated check-post were instructed to return home after being kept waiting for 90 minutes, The Tribune reported.
New Delhi: India has unilaterally closed the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free passage for Sikh pilgrims from India to Pakistan's Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, following Operation Sindoor.
There has been no official statement from the Indian government regarding the reasons for closure of the Kartarpur Corridor or any plans to reopen it.
Pakistani officials have termed the Kartarpur Corridor's closure as a provocative breach of religious freedoms, according to the Pakistani website Minute Mirror. It quoted an official as describing India's decision as 'not just a political act, (but) an attack on the religious rights of Indian Sikhs'.
Post the Pahalgam attack, Pakistan continued operations on its side of the Kartarpur Corridor, with the Evacuee Trust Property Board and the Project Management Unit overseeing the site's management. Pakistan has imposed no restrictions on Sikh pilgrims so far.
Inaugurated in 2019, the corridor has been a symbol of cooperation, allowing Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit one of their holiest sites in Pakistan.
It connects Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan—final resting place of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak—with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. Spanning 4.7 km, this visa-free route links the Indian border directly with the gurdwara in Pakistan.
Following the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, the Indian government downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan. As a result, trade through the Attari-Wagah checkpost in Amritsar was halted. But the Kartarpur Corridor had remained open.
The day after the 22 April Pahalgam attack, 408 pilgrims crossed the corridor, close to the daily average of 425. However, pilgrim numbers began to decline from 24 April onwards. While 493 were granted permission, only 333 actually made the journey, according to media reports.
The corridor, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on 9 November, 2019—marking the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak—was a long-standing demand of the Sikh community.
According to the bilateral agreement, Indian pilgrims enjoy visa-free, same-day access to the shrine. The corridor has also served as a symbolic bridge between the people of India and Pakistan in the Punjab region, separated since the Partition of 1947.
Initially, the corridor was operational for just four months before being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was later reopened on 17 November, 2021. Last year, the agreement was renewed for another five years.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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