Kartarpur Sahib

The Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, also known as the Kartarpur Sahib, is a gurdwara which is built in Kartarpur located in Narowal District, Pakistan.

The Gurudwara has been constructed on the place where Guru Nanak had settled and assembled the Sikh commune after the end of missionary travels.

Geography of the Kartarpur Sahib

• The gurdwara is very notable for its location which is very near to the border between Pakistan and India.
• The gurudwara is visible from the Indian side of the border and this allows the Indian Sikhs to have a sacred viewing of the site, via telescopes on an elevated platform from the Indian side of the border.

Ongoing efforts

• Pakistan had, in 2000, agreed to allow the Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the shrine by waiving the otherwise stringent visa requirement and had the plans to construct a bridge from the border to the shrine.
• However, the deteriorating Indo-Pakistan relations made the construction of the corridor unlikely.
• However, in November 2018, after much diplomatic efforts, the foundation stones for the Kartarpur corridor were laid down on the Pakistani and Indian side.
• The corridor is expected to be completed before the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji which will occur on November 2019.
• Once completed, the corridor will facilitate the flow of Indian pilgrims to Kartarpur, Nankana Sahib and other important Sikh pilgrimage centers in Pakistan.

Why is it in the news?

A special group of 500 Indian pilgrims was granted visa under the 1974 India-Pakistan Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines. These pilgrims will visit Kartarpur Sahib and Nankana Sahib.