The Wire | India to Send Two Senior Ministers After Swaraj Declines Pak's Invite for Kartarpur Ceremony

Dec 02,2020

India has decided to send two ministers to Pakistan government’s ground-breaking ceremony for the Kartarpur Sahib corridor project after external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj declined Pakistan foreign minister S.M Qureshi’s invitation due to “prior commitments”.

The construction of the visa-free pilgrim corridor seems to have provided a fresh lease of life to India-Pakistan relations, which were in a comatose state for the last two months.

Earlier this week, Indian cabinet approved the proposal for the corridor project as part of the celebrations of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak even as Pakistan too was ready to announce plans to start construction.

On Saturday evening, Qureshi issued an invitation to his Indian counterpart and to Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Congress lawmaker Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Within hours, Swaraj replied: “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, Swaraj added that two of her colleagues, minister for food processing industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and minister of state for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri would represent India at the ceremony planned for November 28 at Kartarpur. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would conduct the ground-breaking ceremony.

On Sunday, however, Punjab chief minister Singh also expressed his inability to attend the ceremony in his letter to Qureshi. He cited the killing of Indian soldiers at the line of control and “nefarious activities” of ISI in the state, including alleged involvement in a bomb attack last Sunday.His decline has to be also seen in context of one-upmanship not only between parties, but also within Congress. Sidhu has already expressed his intention to attend.

Swaraj, on her part, has said that India was being “mindful of the sentiments of our Sikh citizens and the importance of facilitating their smooth and easy access to holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib” in its decision to send two senior ministers to the event.

“It is our hope that the government of Pakistan will expedite the construction of the corridor in order to ensure that our citizens can pay their respects at the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor as soon as possible,” she said, concluding her letter.