Daily Times

Following a minor row over the venue of talks on Kartarpur Corridor accord, Pakistan and India have finally agreed on reciprocal visits of their officials to clinch the historic agreement.

As per the details, a Pakistani delegation will travel to Delhi on March 13 for initiating the process of negotiations over the accord.

“We welcome the visit of Pakistan team to discuss and finalise modalities for facilitating visit of pilgrims through Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on 13 March 2019 to India. Follow up meeting can be held in Pakistan, as required,” Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

The tweet of the Indian official came almost an hour after a tweet by his Pakistani counterpart, Dr Muhammad Faisal, who proposed a visit to India in March for talks before finalising the accord on March 28. “In a spirit of constructive engagement Pakistan has proposed to India that the Pakistan delegation may visit India on 13 March followed by the return visit of the Indian delegation to Pakistan on 28 March to finalise the draft agreement for the Kartarpur corridor,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal said on Twitter.

He further hoped for a positive reciprocity from India. It is worth mentioning here that Prime Minister Imran Khan laid the foundation stone of Kartarpur Corridor Project on Nov 28, 2018.

Published in Daily Times, February 9^th 2019.