Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will on Wednesday lay the foundation stone for the much-awaited corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur - the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev - to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district to facilitate visa-free movement of Indian Sikh pilgrims.
The corridor, which will facilitate the visa-free travel of Indian Sikh pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, is expected to be completed within six months, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Faisal said on Tuesday.
Last week, Pakistan and India announced that they would develop the corridor on their respective side of the border to help Indian pilgrims visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
Prime Minister Modi likened the decision by the two countries to the fall of the Berlin Wall, indicating that the project may ease simmering tension between the two countries.
The issue of Kartarpur Sahib came into focus after Sidhu visited Pakistan in August to attend the oath-taking ceremony of his cricketer-turned-politician friend Khan as prime minister of that country.
After his return, Sidhu said that Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had told him that Pakistan may open a corridor to Kartarpur Sahib.
India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place. The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016.
Sidhu has termed the Kartarpur Corridor as a "corridor of infinite possibilities" and said such initiatives would promote peace and erase "enmity" between India and Pakistan.
"The seed Imran Khan had sown three months ago has become a plant. It is a happy moment for the Sikh community that the corridor will be built to reach Kartarpur to get Baba Guru Nanak's blessing without any hassle," he told the media.
"Kartarpur corridor will prove to be a path of peace," Sidhu added.
He further said he was "surprised" when Pakistan's army chief told him that Pakistan intended to open Kartarpur corridor during his last visit. "Gen Bajwa literally surprised me saying that Pakistan intended to open the Kartarpur corridor," he said.
Sidhu was asked about criticism he faced for hugging Gen Bajwa at Khan's swearing-in three months ago in Islamabad, to which he replied, "It was just a 'jhappi' (hug) and not the Rafale deal," alluding to corruption allegations against the BJP-led NDA government.
"It was a second-long hug, not a Rafale deal. It's a tradition in Punjab when two Punjabis meet, they usually greet through hugging each other. It is an expression of exchanging greetings," said the Congress leader.
The Congress party has launched an offensive against the government, alleging corruption and favouritism in the Rs 58,000-crore fighter jet deal for purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft from France's Dassault Aviation. The government has denied any wrongdoing in the deal while the BJP has dismissed as "lies" corruption allegations levelled by the Congress.
A group of 25 journalists from India have been invited by Pakistan for the event here.
Pakistan had invited External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who thanked her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi for the invite and said she was unable to travel to Kartarpur Sahib due to prior commitments.
(With agency inputs)
