Event Details

Kartarpur Sahib inauguration: Harsimrat Kaur, Hardeep Singh Puri to represent India

Nov 25,2018 Event Type

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday expressed her inability to travel to Pakistan for the inauguration of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor scheduled for January 28. In a letter to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ms. Swaraj said that the event will be represented by two senior ministers.

“Due to my prior commitments, including election campaign scheduled in the State of Telangana on that day, I would not be able to travel to Kartarpur Sahib. However,...we will be sending Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister for Food Processing Industries and Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs, as Government of India’s representatives for the event planned for November 28, 2018,” said the External Affairs Minister in a letter to her counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The response from the External Affairs Minister came a day after Mr. Qureshi extended an invite to Ms. Swaraj to participate in the event of November 28. However, the exchange took place in the backdrop of a row over Indian diplomats being denied to provide consular service to visiting Indian pilgrims in Sikh holy places inside Pakistan.

Ms. Swaraj has urged Pakistan to construct the corridor at the earliest to enable pilgrims to visit the landmark Sikh temple that is believed to be the place where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak stayed during his last years of life.

Pakistani sources are yet to respond to Ms. Swaraj’s letter.