Opening Of Kartarpur Corridor By PM Widely Welcomed In KP

PESHAWAR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Nov, 2019 ) :People from all walk of life including Sikh Community here Sunday welcomed the opening of Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims by Prime Minister Imran Khan and termed it a landmark step forward for promotion of interfaith harmony in the country.

"Opening of Kartarpur was a gift of Pakistan to Sikh Community living around the world and a positive step forward to promote interfaith harmony," said Provincial Minister for Environment and Forest Syed Ishtiaq Urmar while talking to this news agency.

He said presence of former Indian PM Manmohan Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sunny Devol besides thousands other sikh pilgrims at the opening ceremony of Kartarpur Corridor have demonstrated the importance of Kartarpur for them.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has fulfilled yet another promise by completing the Kartarpur Corridor within a short period and provided state-of-the art facilities to Sikh pilgrims there.

He said even the Indian Prime Minister Narrendar Modi and cricketer turned politician Novjot Singh Saidhu have appreciated the leadership of PM Imran Khan over this step of opening of Kartarpur.

The minister said PM Imran Khan had again boldly highlighted human rights violations and atrocities of the Indian occupational forces against innocent Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) during his landmark address in front of the Indians and demanded Modi government to lift the longest curfew and Communications blackout in the held valley.

"Our Prime Minister has won the hearts and minds of over 140 million Sikhs by opening of the Kartarpur that was being praised at national and international forums including US and Indian Prime Minister," he said.

In presence of thousands of Sikhs and their leaderships, he said Prime Minister Imran Khan has explained in clear terms that the recent illegal and unilateral actions of India at IoJ&K have put peace of South Asia at stake.

Ishtiaq said the only solution of the core issue of Kashmir is its peaceful settlement through meaningful dialogue between the two countries.

He said time has come for UNO to come forward and implement its resolutions over Kashmir.

He said serious humanitarians crisis have been developed in IoJ& K after curfew was clampdown by the occupied forces, thus depriving over eight million innocent people from all basic rights freedoms besides subjected them to unending mental and physical torture.

He said roads to peace were passing through Kashmir and resolution of this decades long core issue was imperative for lasting peace and stability in the region.

The minister said it was the duty of United Nations to press India for ending the long siege of over eighty lakh innocent Kashmiris in IoJ&K besides implement its Security Council's resolutions in letter and spirit as further delay was likely to jeopardize peace in the entire region.

He said deployment of around nine lakh occupational forces in IoJ&K has completely failed to suppress the legitimate independence movement in the held valley.

He said the time was not away when people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir would get independence from India yoke.

Tribal elder Asghar Afridi, economist Umar Khayam and academician Pir Muhammad Khan besides Sikh community in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have also welcomed opening of the Kartarpur and thanked PM for materializing dreams of hundreds of thousands Sikh pilgrims into reality.