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India, Pakistan set to sign pilgrim corridor pact amid Kashmir tension
[AlAhram] India and Pakistain are set to sign an agreement on Indian pilgrims visiting a Sikh shrine in Pakistain, rare cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours at a time of tension that has brought exchanges of fire on their disputed border.The pact will introduce visa-free access from India to the Pak town of Kartarpur, home to a temple that marks the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, died. India's foreign ministry said in a statement late on Monday an understanding had been reached on most issues and India was prepared to sign the agreement on Wednesday. Pak officials were not immediately available for comment but Pakistain's Dawn newspaper cited a foreign ministry front man as saying agreement had been reached and the two sides would sign the pact soon. The Sikh minority in India has long sought easier access to the temple in Kartarpur, which is just over the border in Moslem-majority Pakistain. The collaboration comes at a time of tension between the rivals, with Pakistain particularly aggrieved over recent Indian government measures in its part of the divided Moslem-majority region of Kashmir .jpg "Kashmir") ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... Both countries claim the Himalayan region in full but rule it in part. India in August revoked special autonomy in Indian-controlled Kashmir, which was accompanied by a crackdown on dissent by India's security forces there, angering Pakistain. The dispute over Kashmir has bedevilled relations since their independence in 1947 and sparked two of their three wars. India said on Sunday two soldiers and a civilian were killed in cross-border shelling in Kashmir while Pakistain said one of its soldiers and three civilians had been killed. In February, they came close to war following a suicide kaboom in Indian Kashmir that killed 40 paramilitary soldiers. In response, India launched an air strike on the Pak side and Pakistain shot down an Indian aircraft. The new crossing will be inaugurated in early November, just before the 550th birthday of Sikhism's founder on Nov. 12, officials from both sides have said. The shrine is about 4 km (2-1/2 miles) from the border. The crossing and corridor, including a road, bridge over the Ravi River and immigration office, will replace a drawn-out visa process and circuitous journey through Pakistain. But there is still disagreement over a $20 fee that Pakistain wants to charge each visitor. India "has consistently urged Pakistain that in deference to the wishes of the pilgrims, it should not levy such a fee", India's foreign ministry said. Related: Kartarpur: 2019-08-26 War not our choice, but will fight till the end if it is imposed: Fawad Chaudhry Kartarpur: 2019-08-09 Pakistan to take India's move to annex occupied Kashmir to UN Security Council: Qureshi Kartarpur: 2019-03-08 'Islamabad wants de-escalation,' foreign minister tells Pakistan's top envoy in India Posted by: trailing wife 2019-10-23 |
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