Kartarpur Corridor Still Shut by India, Pakistan Says It Is Ready as Sikh Pilgrims Head for Wagah on November 22
File photo: Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur — the Foreign Office says India has kept pilgrim movement through the corridor suspended since May 7, 2025, while Pakistan's side remains open (Photo: Shahzaib Damn Cruze / Wikimedia Commons)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said India has kept the Kartarpur Corridor closed to Sikh pilgrims since May 7, 2025, while its own side of the corridor remains open and Islamabad is ready to receive pilgrims at any time. Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told the weekly media briefing on Friday that the main ceremony for the 557th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji will be held at Nankana Sahib on Tuesday, November 24, and pilgrims travelling from India will enter Pakistan through the Wagah border on Sunday, November 22.
Nine thousand through Wagah, Kartarpur five kilometres away
The spokesperson said he saw no justification for allowing more than 9,000 Sikh pilgrims to cross through Wagah while keeping the daily pilgrimage to Kartarpur Sahib barred, when the shrine sits only five kilometres inside Pakistan and visitors can spend the day there and return the same evening. Under the 2019 agreement, the corridor allows up to 5,000 pilgrims a day to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib without a visa. India shut the corridor after the Pahalgam attack on May 7, 2025, and Pakistan has said repeatedly since then that it is ready to reopen it.
9,318 religious visas in 2025
Mr Khan said Pakistan issued 9,318 visas to Indian religious pilgrims in 2025, including 9,070 to Sikhs and 248 to Hindus, and a further 4,002 to Sikh pilgrims in the first half of 2026. The visas are issued under the 1974 protocol on visits to religious shrines agreed between the two countries. He made it clear that Pakistan has imposed no ban on visas for Indian nationals, and that Hindu and Sikh pilgrims continue to receive them as a matter of routine.
Visa for Bhagwant Mann would be considered
Asked whether Indian Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann could visit Pakistan, the spokesperson said Islamabad would consider issuing him a visa if he wished to come, though permission to travel would remain a matter for the Indian government. Pakistan, he said, was committed to hosting pilgrims of all faiths.
Arrangements in place
According to the Evacuee Trust Property Board, arrangements for accommodation, langar, transport, security and medical facilities for the pilgrims have been completed. Guru Nanak was born in 1469 at Talwandi, known today as Nankana Sahib, and founded Sikhism.
