Every year thousands of Sikhs queue up near the border in the Indian state of Punjab, and peer through binoculars at the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, one of their holiest shrines, 4.5km away in Pakistan. The binoculars may soon be unnecessary. Indian delegates visit Islamabad today to discuss the “Kartarpur corridor”, a road link that will let Sikh pilgrims visit the shrine without a visa. When Imran Khan, Pakistan’s prime minister, laid the project’s foundation last year, Narendra Modi, his Indian counterpart, compared the event to the fall of the Berlin wall. It has not proved so auspicious: after a suicide-bombing in Kashmir in February, both sides deployed warplanes and traded fire. Tensions have since eased, and both sides have continued with steps that would make visiting the other easier. With Indian elections scheduled next month, don’t expect Mr Modi to go too far brandishing the olive branch. But it is a start.