Daily Times

The government has decided to finalise all the arrangements regarding the inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor and 550th birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak by October 30.

All departments concerned including police have been directed to submit the final report in this regard. Around 100,000 Sikh pilgrims from India and all over the world are expected to arrive in Pakistan.

As per details, Punjab Governor Ch Mohammad Sarwar presided over the “Religious Tourism and Heritage Committee” meeting on Tuesday in Governor’s House Lahore. Provincial Minister for Religious Affairs Peer Syed Saeed Ul Hassan, Chairman Evacuee Trust Property Board Amir Ameer Khan, Principal Secretary to Governor Babar Hayat Tarar, Commissioner Gujranwala Zulfiqar Ghuman, Commissioner Lahore Asif Khan Lodhi, Chairman TEVTA Ali Salman, CEO LESCO Mujahid Pervaiz, DC Narowal, DC Nankana and other officers of concerned departments attended the meeting. Chairman Evacuee Trust Property Board and other concerned departments briefed the meeting about the preparations made for Kartarpur Corridor inauguration and 550th birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak. Committee decided to complete the preparations and finalise the arrangements for the stay, security, transportation and other matters of Sikh Pilgrims coming from India and all over the world by October 30 at every cost. All concerned departments were directed to submit a finalised report to committee. While addressing the meeting Governor Punjab said that safety of Sikh Pilgrims is the responsibility of the government and no negligence in this regard will be tolerated. Kartarpur corridor is being completed as per our promise and PM Imran Khan will inaugurate this on 9th November.

Meanwhile, Governor Punjab said that opposition wanted to stage protest demonstration to get “Freedom” from accountability but there would be no compromise on transparent accountability process. Talking to a PTI’s delegation led by Punjab Minister Women Development Ashifa Riaz, PTI MNA Riaz Fatyana, Mian Hamid Miraj and others at Governor’s House, he said that past rulers did nothing to overcome challenges faced by the country including inflation and unemployment and also caused huge economic damage to the country owing to their poor policies but the PTI after coming into power put in place comprehensive measures to raising the living standards of the people. The elaborative policies of PTI government saved the country from possible economic default, he added. He said that it was unfortunate to see that the opposition could not digest the PTI government’s effective initiatives put in place for welfare of the people besides progress and prosperity of the country, due to which the opposition was planning to create unrest and instability in the country by their protests and sit-ins but the government with the support of people would foil all the conspiracies of opposition. The people had rejected the opposition during general elections 2018 and they would again discard the opposition’s agenda of protest, he maintained. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was determined to rid the country of corruption at any cost, besides steering it out of all crises, he said and added the government was striving hard to further strengthen the democracy, parliament and other national institutions. Chaudhry Sarwar said that PTI government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan has initiated a number of programs for provision of healthcare and education facilities to the people, adding that all the promises made by the PTI during its electoral campaign including provision of employment to the youth would be fulfilled.