Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday performed the groundbreaking of the long-awaited corridor]1 connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur area of Narowal district to Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur district.

Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent more than 18 years of his life in Kartarpur. The proposal for the corridor was on the table since 1988, when Pakistan and India agreed in principle to construct it but tense relations between both sides prevented progress on the plan.

In the absence of the corridor, Sikh devotees would gather near the border fence and offer prayers with the gurdwara in sight ─ with some of them even using binoculars to better view the temple.

A large number of Sikh yatris ─ both local and Indian ─ along with visiting Indian Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep S. Puri, and Indian Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu were invited to attend the ceremony, along with other foreign diplomats and journalists.