The Kartarpur Corridor (; ) is a visa-free border crossing and religious corridor, connecting two gurdwaras (Sikh temples), Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, near Narowal in Pakistan and Gurudwara Dera Baba Nanak, Gurdaspur district, Punjab, India. The crossing allows devotees from India to visit the gurdwara in Kartarpur, Pakistan, from the India–Pakistan border on the Pakistani side without a visa. Pakistani Sikhs are unable to use the border crossing, and cannot access Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian side without first obtaining an Indian visa or unless they work there.
The Kartarpur Corridor was first proposed in early 1999 by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan respectively at that time, as part of the Delhi–Lahore Bus diplomacy.Rana, Yudhvir (3 July 2012). SGPC demands government to take up Dera Baba Nanak-Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib corridor issue with Pakistan . The Times of India.
On 26 November 2018, the foundation stone was laid down on the Indian side by Prime Minister Narendra Modi; two days later, then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan did the same for the Pakistani side. The corridor was completed for the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak, on 12 November 2019."Imran Khan to open Kartarpur Corridor to India on November 9" gulfnews.com Retrieved 20 October 2019 Khan said "Pakistan believes that the road to prosperity of region and bright future of our coming generation lies in peace", adding that "Pakistan is not only opening the border but also their hearts for the Sikh community". Modi compared the decision by the two countries to go ahead with the corridor to the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, saying that the project could help ease tensions between the two countries.
Previously, Sikh pilgrims from India had to travel to Lahore to get to Kartarpur, a journey, even though people on the Indian side of the border could see Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur from the Indian side, where an elevated observation platform was constructed.
On 17 November 2021, the Kartarpur Corridor re-opened after over a year and a half of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both India and Pakistan allowed citizens to visit the Gurdwara on the condition that they carry both a negative COVID-19 test result and certificate of vaccination. Following the 2025 Pahalgam attack and the ensuing crisis, Indian authorities indefinitely suspended corridor services on 7 May 2025.
Background
The first guru of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, founded Kartarpur in 1504 on the right bank of the Ravi River and established the first Sikh commune there. Following his death in 1539, Hindus and Muslims both claimed him as their own and raised mausoleums in his memory with a common wall between them. The changing course of the Ravi River eventually washed away the mausoleums. A new habitation was formed, representing the present-day Dera Baba Nanak on the left bank of the Ravi river.
After the 1947 partition of India, the region was divided between India and Pakistan. The Radcliffe Line awarded the Shakargarh tehsil on the right bank of the Ravi River, including Kartarpur, to Pakistan, and the Gurdaspur tehsil on the left bank of Ravi to India.: Mountbatten sent a query to the Secretary of State for India, Lord Listowell, asking what 'other factors' might mean. Listowell... replied that these were entirely for the Punjab Boundary Commissioners to decide. However, he said, "other factors must include the location of Sikh shrines'. This looks very much like a directive to the Radcliffe Commission. Sir Cyril certainly paid heed to it, but not unduly at Pakistan's expense." In 1948, the Akali Dal demanded that India should acquire the land of the gurdwaras in Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur. The demands persisted till 1959, but the Punjab state government controlled by the Indian National Congress advised against any modification of the boundary fixed by the Radcliffe Award.
For many years following partition, Indian Sikhs could visit Kartarpur informally by crossing the Jassar bridge () on the Ravi river, as border controls between the two countries were not strictly enforced until 1965. The bridge was destroyed by Pakistani forces during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965 to inhibit potential Indian advances, and border controls became more tightly regulated.
In 1969, on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi promised to approach the Pakistani government for a land-swap so that Kartarpur Sahib could become part of India;Access first promised in 1969 , The Tribune, 28 November 2018. however, none of this materialised. In September 1974, a protocol was agreed between India and Pakistan for visits to religious shrines. Around 2005, the protocol was updated by increasing the number of visits and the number of sites. However, Kartarpur was not among the sites included in the 1974protocol. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, India had requested its inclusion but this was not agreed to by Pakistan.Devirupa Mitra, At Kartarpur Ceremony, Imran Khan Emphasises Cooperation, Says Army on 'Same Page' , The Wire, 28 November 2018.: "In 2005, Government had proposed to Pakistan the inclusion of Kartarpur Sahib in the list of shrines under the bilateral 'Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines-1974. During the meeting between External Affairs Minister and the Foreign Minister of Pakistan on June 27, 2008 it was also proposed to Pakistan side that a stall (?) team from India could visit Pakistan to discuss the modalitics for visa free travel through a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara in Pakistan. However, no response has been received from Pakistan side till date."
Gobind Singh, the caretaker of the gurdwara at Kartarpur, said the gurdwara had "remained shut from 1947 to 2000".Footprints: The borders of man , Dawn, 18 September 2018. The gurdwara had no staff, despite receiving pilgrims, and entrance was restricted. The Pakistani government started repairing the shrine in September 2000 ahead of the anniversary of Guru Nanak's death and formally reopened it in September 2004. The Kartarpur Corridor mission was initially started by Bhabishan Singh Goraya, who pursued the cause for 24 years.
According to Akali leader Kuldeep Singh Wadala, the gurdwara had been abandoned till 2003. It served as a cattle shed for the villagers and its lands were taken over by share-croppers. Since 2003, however, the Pakistani government has reportedly taken initiatives for the upkeep of Sikh religious shrines.Pakistan open to ‘visa-free’ Sikh pilgrimage , The Indian Express, 16 April 2008.
Recent initiatives
During the tenure of Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the opening of Kartarpur border crossing was first discussed in 1998. After further discussions during the 1999 bus diplomacy, Pakistan renovated the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, and made it available for viewing from the Indian border.Kartarpur to lessen Pakistan-India tension , The News International, 27 November 2018.Pakistan gives nod to Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, agrees to open border next year , One India, 23 November 2018. The tensions arising from the Kargil War had effectively destroyed India–Pakistan relations. However, it was reported that General Pervez Musharraf gave a 'green signal' for constructing a corridor, according to the Pakistan Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee chairman Lt.-Gen. Javed Nasir.
Manmohan Singh, during his firstterm as the prime minister of India, also tabled the issue in a speech in Punjab in 2004. The 'composite dialogue process' between India and Pakistan initiated in 2004 also discussed access to Kartarpur via an Amritsar–Lahore–Kartarpur road link.
In 2008, the Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee raised with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi the idea of "visa-free travel" to Kartarpur.New Delhi, Islamabad Jostle for Credit as Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Gets Green Signal , The Wire, 22 November 2018. There was apparently no official response, but privately, Pakistan began to express its openness to the Sikh community. However, even up to 2012, the Indian government had no response. The hostility between the countries was apparently to blame.
On 20 June 2008, at a press conference in Dera Baba Nanak arranged by Akali leader Kuldeep Singh Wadala, John W. McDonald, a former American ambassador and founder of Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, called for "a peace corridor, a peace zone" connecting shrines on both sides of the border. On 28 June 2008, the Indian foreign minister at the time, Pranab Mukherjee, said that the Indian government would carry out a feasibility study for the peace corridor. However, since the 2008 Mumbai attacks took place, the relations between India and Pakistan nosedived and the initiative faltered. Members of the Sikh community in Washington DC worked with the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy to carry out an independent feasibility study. In August 2010, their report titled "Kartarpur Marg" was released by Surinder Singh and the Institute. According to the report, the cost of the corridor would be 17 million US dollars, which the Sikh diaspora agreed to raise. The report had said that it would cost Pakistan $14.8 million and India $2.2 million. In November 2010, the Punjab state legislative assembly unanimously passed a resolution in favour of an international passage between the two sites and forwarded it to the Indian Union government on 1 October 2010.
Corridor project In August 2018, the then Indian Punjab tourism minister Navjot Singh Sidhu attended the Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's inaugural ceremony where he was told by the Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa of Pakistan's willingness to open the Dera Baba Nanak–Kartarpur corridor on Guru Nanak's 550thbirth anniversary. Given the clear time frame, this set the ball rolling.
In August 2018, another resolution related to the corridor in the Indian Punjab Vidhan Sabha was moved by then chief minister Amarinder Singh, which was passed unanimously. Following this the government of Indian Punjab decided to approach the prime minister of India related to the opening of the corridor. On 30 October 2018, a group of Sikh Americans sought the Indian prime minister's help in opening the corridor. In November 2018, the Indian Cabinet approved the plan to set up the corridor and appealed to Pakistan to do the same. The Pakistani foreign minister S. M. Qureshi responded by tweeting that Pakistan had "already conveyed to India" that it would open a corridor.
In August 2019, India and Pakistan agreed to allow visa-free travel of Indian citizens to Kartarpur, but differences persisted about Indian consular officers being located at the site.