Singhvi for Manmohan-led all party Kartarpur delegation

A senior Congress leader wants Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send an all-party delegation under the leadership of his predecessor Manmohan Singh for the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor next month.

The suggestion was made by Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi after Pakistan announced that it would like to invite former Prime Minister Singh for the inaugural ceremony scheduled for November 9. Singh’s office said it had not received any invitation from Pakistan and the former prime minister was likely to turn down any such offer.

Singhvi suggested to the Prime Minister that he should personally constitute an all-party delegation for the inaugural ceremony to send a message of solidarity when it came to dealing with Pakistan.

The senior counsel recalled that the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had sent a delegation under the leadership of the then opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva in 1994.

“I meant PM should request Dr Manmohan Singh to head this multi-individual delegation to Pakistan,” Singhvi said.

The Kartarpur corridor would connect Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur in Punjab to facilitate visa-free movement on Indian pilgrims. Pakistan is scheduled to open the Kartarpur corridor on November 9, a few days ahead of the 550^th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith.