AMRITSAR: A six-member delegation led by Indian high commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria visited Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib to pay respect and explore possibilities of the opening of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan and Dera Baba Nanak, India.

This happened almost ten days after cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu ’s controversial hug to Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and latter’s assurance to open corridor during the oath-taking ceremony Imran Khan on August 18.

Gobind Singh, granthi of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, told TOI that Ajay Bisaria and five other members of Indian high commission in Islamabad arrived on Wednesday afternoon.

“They paid obeisance at Gurdwara, held Japji Sahib Path, partook langar,” said Gobind. He added that the Indian high commissioner informed after hearing a lot about corridor in media, he was curious to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib and was inquisitive to know about the history where Sikh’s first master Guru Nanak Dev spent 17 years before his demise.

In the past, Pakistan government had prevented Bisaria twice from visiting Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal. First, on April 14, Bisaria and other officials of Indian high commission were barred from entering Gurdwara Panja Sahib when he wanted to meet the Indian Sikh devotees who had arrived at Gurdwara to celebrate Baisakhi. The second time, Bisaria was stopped on the way to the same Gurdwara where he was going to meet Indian Sikh devotees who had arrived on the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The demand of corridor was rejuvenated after Bajwa’s assurance to Sidhu to open the corridor on the occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. After Sidhu’s return, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had also urged the external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to take up the corridor issue with her Pakistani counterpart.

