Pakistan agrees for visa-free year-long travel to Kartarpur Sahib

Pakistan on Sunday agreed in-principle to allow visa-free, year-long travel for Indian passport holders and OCI card holders to the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara.

Everyday, 5,000 pilgrims will be allowed to visit the Gurdwara on foot, both as individuals or in groups, Home Ministry's Joint Secretary (Internal Security) S.C.L. Das told reporters here after the second Joint Secretary-level bilateral meeting at Wagah, across the international border in Pakistan.

Pakistan highlighted the infrastructural constraints on their side and conveyed that they may be able to accommodate many of the Indian proposals in a phased manner, he said.

Indian raised the demand of allowing 10,000 additional pilgrims to visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara on special occasions.

The Kartarpur shrine in Pakistan's Narowal district across the Ravi is where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent his final days, and is highly revered by the Sikh community. It is about 4 km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur. IANS