Indian Punjab wants Pakistan to waive passport, $20 fee for Kartarpur visit

The assembly in Indian state of Punjab on Tuesday passed a resolution urging the BJP-led Indian government at the Centre to ask Pakistan to remove the condition of having a passport and paying $20 (1,436 Indian rupees) to visit the Kartarpur Sahib shrine using the corridor inaugurated in November last year.

Indian Punjab Jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa moved the resolution in the assembly in Chandigarh, reports Hindustan Times.

The resolution comes close on the heels of Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh’s demand that the governments of India and Pakistan waive the condition of passport for Indian pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan through the Kartarpur Corridor.

Addressing a religious function organised by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak, Giani Harpreet Singh said that the condition of carrying a passport as identity proof is the main reason behind the low turnout of Indian pilgrims at the Kartarpur shrine, the last resting place of Guru Nanak.