New Delhi: Citing “prior commitments” at the election campaign in Telengana, External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj has declined the invitation of Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to attend the ground-breaking ceremony at Kartarpur on November 28.
In a tweet of Saturday evening, Qureshi wrote- “On behalf of Pakistan, I have extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj @SushmaSwaraj, Capt Amarinder Singh @capt_amarinder & Navjot Singh Sidhu @sherryontopp to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at #Kartarpura on 28 Nov, 2018. #PakistanKartarpuraSpirit”.
On behalf of Pakistan I have extended an invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj @SushmaSwaraj ,Capt Amarinder Singh @capt_amarinder & Navjot Singh Sidhu @sherryontopp to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at #Kartarpura on 28 Nov, 2018.#PakistanKartarpuraSpirit
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) November 24, 2018
In response to the invitation extended by Pak Foreign Minister, Swaraj said that she will not be able to attend the event as she has election related commitments in poll-bound Telengana. However, she nominated fellow Cabinet Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri to represent India at the ground-breaking event in Kartarpur.
Notably, Kartarpur corridor is a proposed link between India’s border district of Gurdaspur with the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The link will facilitate the movement of Sikh pilgrims from India who wish to visit Kartarpur as well as Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak Dev.
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