Dera Baba Nanak: Indian prime minister Narendra Modi announced ‘Unlock 2.0’ yesterday but the doors of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor remained locked. The corridor which connects Kartarpur Sahib in Narowal district of West Punjab with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of East Punjab was opened in November last year to allow Sikhs from eastren side to visit the sacred place of Kartarpur Sahib, once inhabited by Guru Nanak Ji.
The corridor was suspended by Indian government in the month of March 2020 citing the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the region.
As places of worship open up across the world, Pakistan prepares to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for all Sikh pilgrims, conveying to the Indian side our readiness to reopen the corridor on 29 June 2020, the occasion of the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh.
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) June 27, 2020
As the region is opening up again and ‘unlock’, instead of lockdown, is being implemented the Government of Pakistan reopened the Kartarpur Sahib corridor on June 29 to re-welcome the Sikh yatris.
MHA website for Sri Kartarpur Sahib Yatra shows suspension message
Indian side, however, has not opened the corridor yet. The website of Sri Kartarpur Sahib Yatra under the ‘Ministry of Home Affairs’, Government of India shows a message that “[i]n the wake of COVID-19 Pandemic, as a preacutionary measure to contain and control spread of the disease, the travel and registration for Sri Kartarpur Sahib is temporarily suspended from March 16, 2020”.
A screenshot of suspension message