The Kartarpur corridor and the adjoining building of the Integrated Check Point (ICP) have become milestones that are gathering dust. Post-Covid, while the world has opened, nobody in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) seems to be talking about the project. In March last year, when the effects of the virus were first felt in India leading to a series of the lockdowns, the corridor was closed to pilgrims.
Religious leaders claim that even with cinema halls and schools being reopened, what is stopping the MHA from giving the green signal? Cabinet Minister and local MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said he had approached the CM to ensure the corridor opens so that pilgrims can pay obeisance at Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.
However, this is where the rub lies: insiders say the intelligence agencies are averse to its reopening. And till these agencies give the go-ahead nothing is going to move. “Murphy’s law states that when things go wrong, they get worse. Everything that can go wrong with the pious project has gone wrong. It is high time this Murphy man is banished from the area. Only then will things get back on the right track,” opined Randhawa.
Kartarpur Sahib: Corridor of uncertainty
{$excerpt:n}
