Bollywood actor and politician Sunny Deol will be part of the inaugural procession visiting Pakistan on Saturday to attend the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor.
The news was confirmed by the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh of India’s Punjab. Indian news agency ANI reported that Sunny said: “If I won’t go, who will? I’ll definitely go. It is my area and my home.”
Sunny Deol is a BJP Member of Parliament from India’s Gurdaspur district. According to a report in NDTV, apart from Deol, the first group of Sikh pilgrims includes former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Union Ministers Hardeep Puri and Harsimrat Kaur Badal, amongst 550 pilgrims who are expected to attend the inaugural ‘jatha’ to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib through Kartarpur Corridor.
Congress leader and former cricketer and Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who repeatedly sought political clearance from the government to travel to Kartarpur after receiving an invitation from Pakistan, was also finally given the go-ahead to attend the inauguration.
The corridor will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Punjab with Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, just 4 kilometres from the International Border, located in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Inaugural events for the Kartarpur Corridor will be held on both sides of the border on Saturday. While the corridor will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the Pakistani side, Indian PM Modi will open the route at the other end.
Pakistan and India signed an agreement on October 24 on the modalities for using Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, paving the way for its inauguration ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of the Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev.
