India and Pakistan have renewed the Kartarpur Corridor agreement for another five years, ensuring uninterrupted access for pilgrims to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara in Pakistan.

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• Agreement, signed on 24 October 2019, was established to facilitate pilgrimages from India to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Narowal, Pakistan, via the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.
• The corridor will remain operational until 2029, allowing pilgrims to continue their religious visits.
• Indian External Affairs Minister, emphasised the government’s commitment to ensuring Sikh pilgrims’ access to holy sites.

About Kartarpur Corridor

• It connects Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab.
  • Kartarpur gurudwara is the revered shrine about 4 km across the border where Guru Nanak Dev spent the last 18 years of his life.
  • The Maharaja of Patiala donated money to construct the Gurudwara in the between 1920’s. 
• Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines : Pilgrimages between India and Pakistan are governed by the 1974 Protocol on visits to Religious Shrines, which includes a list of shrines in Pakistan and India open for visitors from the other country for which visas are required.
• Kartarpur Corridor provides visa-free access from India to the shrine inside Pakistan.
  • Indian pilgrims need only a permit to cross into Pakistan.
• Located on the Ravi River which is one of the rivers of the Indus System.
• Commemoration: It was built to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev on November 12, 2019.

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