The Centre has decided to reopen the Kartarpur corridor from Wednesday to allow pilgrims to visit the shrine in Pakistan. The decision came ahead of Gurpurab that will be celebrated on Friday.

Guruparab is celebrated to mark the the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.

“This decision reflects the immense reverence of [Narendra] Modi government towards Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji and our Sikh community,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted.

In another tweet, Shah said that the decision to reopen the Kartarpur corridor will “further boost the joy and happiness across the country”.

The corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district. The gurdwara in Kartarpur town is built at the site where Guru Nanak died in 1539. It is one of the holiest shrines in Sikhism.

India had suspended the pilgrimage and registrations for visit to the gurdwara on March 16 last year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The Kartarpur Corridor was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Indian side and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan across the border on November 9, 2019.

The decision to reopen the corridor came two days after Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Punjab had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted a memorandum to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor to Pakistan, reported The Indian Express.

Besides them, several Sikh leaders, including Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, his predecessor Amarinder Singh and state Congress chief Navjot Sidhu, had also requested the Centre to reopen the corridor before Gurpurab, according to NDTV.