Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi-led jatha to visit Kartarpur gurdwara today, Navjot Sidhu won’t be part of it

Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, along with his ministers, will be part of the ‘jatha’ (group) which will visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur (Pakistan) on Thursday. Some MLAs and officials are also expected to accompany Channi.

Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu will not be part of the jatha travelling to Kartarpur. On Wednesday night, Sidhu’s media adviser Surinder Dalla claimed that Sidhu has been officially intimated that he could go on November 20 instead of November 18. Sidhu had submitted his application on Tuesday for travelling to the historic shrine in Pakistan to offer prayers, he added.

According to a customs official, around 100 people are expected to visit the shrine on Thursday, a day before Gurpurab, which marks the birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak.

The Kartarpur Corridor, which links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district, reopened on Wednesday.

A 28-member jatha visited the gurdwara on the first of the reopening of the visa-free corridor. The jatha comprising the panj pyare (five beloved of Guru) crossed over to Pakistan at 11am.

Officials of the Land Port Authority of India (LPAI) and the Border Security Force (BSF) honoured the members of the jatha with siropas (robes of honour) and sweets at the Dera Baba Nanak integrated check-post.

A delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders will also visit the historic gurdwara via the corridor on Thursday. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is taking a delegation to pay obeisance at Kartarpur on Friday.

Pilgrimage to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara was suspended in March 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.