India has suggested to Pakistan that they meet in mid-July to draft an agreement on the movement of pilgrims to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, three months after calling off a scheduled meeting on working out the modalities of the Kartarpur Corridor for direct access to Guru Nanak’s resting place.

New Delhi said the two sides could iron out the issues relating to alignment and infrastructure along the stretch that is being opened out exclusively for pilgrimage to the gurdwara.

On March 29, in the middle of the election campaign, India had called for rescheduling the April 2 meeting on the Kartarpur Corridor till its concerns about Islamabad including pro-Khalistan elements in the reconstituted Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee were addressed.

While official sources confirmed that India had proposed fresh dates, questions on whether its concerns had been addressed remained unanswered.

Sources, in turn, said India’s decision to call for another meeting to work out the modalities shows “our commitment to the corridor”.

Since the first such engagement between officials of the two sides took place on March 14 at Attari on the Indian side of the border, New Delhi has suggested that the next meeting be held at the Wagah foot crossing point in Pakistan between July 11 and 14.

Apart from the March 14 meeting, technical experts from both sides have met thrice since the two countries decided in November 2018 to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor in time for the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in November this year.

The corridor will allow pilgrims direct access to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib — making it a day trip — instead of crossing over at Attari/Wagah to go to the resting place of Sikhism’s founder.

Some of the issues that need to be resolved include the number of pilgrims allowed daily, the days the corridor will remain open, the citizenship of those who will be able to access the corridor, mode of travel and the documentation required.

India wants Pakistan to allow 5,000 pilgrims daily and 10,000 more on festival days but Islamabad is insisting on only 500-700 per day, citing infrastructure issues.

Pakistan wants to keep the corridor open only on some days while India wants it accessible daily.

Pakistan has agreed to India’s argument that the corridor should be open to all Indians and not just Sikhs but has been reluctant to allow Overseas Indian People Citizen cardholders.

India has been insisting that all Indian pilgrims should be allowed to travel on their passports since the list of people going in will be cleared by both sides in advance, and there is no stay involved as it is a day’s pilgrimage. While Pakistan has agreed to make the pilgrimage visa-free, it is insisting on a permit with a fee.

At the very first meeting itself, India had made it clear that Pakistan should insulate Indian pilgrims from pro-Khalistan elements. This has become a concern particularly since pro-Khalistan elements have staged rallies outside Pakistani gurdwaras during visits by Indian pilgrims.

Also, walls of Pakistani gurdwaras were plastered with pro-Khalistan posters like “Never forget 1984”.