Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj excused from attending the groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur border crossing between India and Pakistan.
Swaraj made announcement hours after Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi invited her, sharing the news through her official twitter handle she wrote, "I thank HE Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi Foreign Minister of Pakistan for inviting me to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor on the Pakistan side of the International boundary on 28 November 2018."
In a set of tweets, Swaraj thanked Qureshi and said “we welcome this proposal and we are sending two ministers”.
The ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri would represent the country at the Pakistan’s groundbreaking ceremony for a corridor to Kartapur Gurdwara, the first major contact between the two sides after months of strained ties.
"Since I am unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib on the scheduled date, Government of India will be represented by my esteemed colleagues Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Mr. H. S. Puri," she said.
Swaraj continued to add on that, “We hope that the Government of Pakistan will expedite construction of the corridor in order to ensure that our citizens can pay their respects at the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor as soon as possible,”
Indian Punjab's Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has declined Pakistan's invite for Kartarpur corridor ground breaking ceremony, NDTV reported on Sunday.
"I hope the Prime Minister (Imran Khan) will understand that under these circumstances it will not be possible for me to be present in Pakistan on this historic occasion," he said after leveling allegations against Islamabad, according to the TV channel.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had invited the Chief minister as well as his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj and cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj also excused from attending the ceremony in a Twitter, but said government of Indian send its representatives to the event.
"I thank HE Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, for inviting me to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on the Pakistan side of the international boundary on 28 November 2018," Sushma said on Twitter
"Since I am unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib on the scheduled date, Government of India will be represented by my esteemed colleagues Mrs Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Mr HS Puri," she said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, will perform the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor on November 28, according to Minister for Information Fawad Hussain here on Saturday.
He said the federal cabinet has also formally approved the opening of Kartarpur corridor to facilitate the Sikh community of India.
He said visa-free entry will be provided to the pilgrims from India and a mechanism in this regard as being finalised. He remarked that the opening of Kartarpur corridor is a peace initiative of Pakistan to normalise relations with India because Islamabad wanted to defeat poverty and this endeavor will be pursued with utmost sincerity. The minister, however, said Pakistan could never forget the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier extended an invitation to his Indian counterpart to attend the ceremony for opening of the border crossing between the two countries on November 28.
The foreign minister also invited Chief Minister of India's Punjab province Amarinder Singh and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu to attend the ceremony.
Kartarpur Sahib
Kartarpur Sahib is located across Ravi river in Pakistan and is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine.
The demand to build a corridor linking India’s border district of Gurdaspur with a historic gurudwara in Pakistan has been a long-pending demand of the Sikh community.
The corridor, once built, will give Indian pilgrims easy access to the shrine in Kartarpur.
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Diplomacy