Islamabad, April 4
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) government has initiated an investigation to ascertain the facts regarding the adoption of a resolution in the region’s Legislative Assembly seeking an opening of a Kartarpur-type corridor connecting both sides of Kashmir.
PoK “Prime Minister” Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan shared this plan in his speech at a dinner hosted by him in honour of Hurriyat leaders, the Express Tribune newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Khan expressed his serious concern over the resolution presented in the Legislative Assembly and said a fact-finding inquiry was underway and added it would soon be made public.
Inaugurated in 2019, the Kartarpur corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, where Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev lived and died at the start of the 16th century, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. The 4 km-long corridor provides visa-free access to Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.
Virtually inaugurating the Mata Sharda Devi temple near the Line of Control in the Karnah sector of Jammu and Kashmir last month, Home Minister Amit Shah said the opening of the temple has been made possible by the blessings of Mata Sharda Devi and by the joint efforts of the people on both sides of the LoC.
Referring to the demand for the opening of the Sharda Peeth across LoC on the lines of the Kartarpur Corridor, Shah said the Centre will surely make efforts on this and there is no doubt about it.
Sharda Peeth, the seat of Sharda, the Kashmiri name for goddess Saraswati, was one of the foremost ancient universities of the Indian subcontinent.