Hours before the groundbreaking of the Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan’s Narowal district, Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj Wednesday said the initiative is not connected with the bilateral dialogue process.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, the minister thanked Pakistan for accepting India’s longstanding demand for opening the Kartarpur corridor, but clarified that it does not mean that bilateral talks will begin soon.
“Bilateral dialogue and Kartarpur corridor are two different things. I am very happy that for the last 20 years, rather many years, the government of India has been asking for this Kartarpur corridor. For the first time, Pakistan responded positively to this,” she said. “But it doesn’t mean that the bilateral dialogue will start only on this (Kartarpur). We always say terror and talks can’t go together. The moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, the dialogue can start. The dialogue is not connected with only Kartarpur corridor,” she added.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Hardeep Singh Puri and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu represented India at the groundbreaking ceremony in Narowal on Wednesday. The corridor will allow Indian Sikh pilgrims to travel to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur without a visa. The project is likely to be completed in six months.
Published in Daily Times, November 29th 2018.
