ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI/KARTARPUR – The November 9 opening of the Kartarpur Corridor linking Darbar Sahib in Pakistan with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district of Punjab shouldn’t be interpreted as a departure from the two countries’ dedication to mutually assured destruction, New Delhi and Islamabad vowed on Thursday.

Speaking on behalf of the entire country, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that just because the two countries are uniting and showing love for one another through the Kartarpur Corridor doesn’t mean that nuclear war between India and Pakistan is any further than it was.

“Some people think that such expressions of religious pluralism and tolerance would bring the two countries together and push away nuclear war. Let me tell you all, when it comes to India and Pakistan, nuclear war is never off the table,” he said.

Reciprocating New Delhi’s gesture Islamabad reaffirmed that it was ‘as committed as ever’ to the nuclear war, which would lead to mutually assured destruction of the two neighbouring countries.

During the weekly press briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said that Islamabad has come up with a strategy wherein perpetual states of war and peace would continue to coexist between the two countries.

“We’re hoping for an arrangement where we could send pilgrims to each other’s states, while simultaneously sending spies and militants to one another,” Dr Faisal said.

“That would ensure that peaceful exchanges between the countries and war both coexist. The former is in the best interest of the masses, while the latter in the best interest of the rulers.”