The Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday passed a resolution urging the Centre to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, and ensure uninterrupted access for pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, calling the passage a symbol of the Sikh community’s faith and shared religious heritage.The resolution, moved by Education Minister Harjot Bains, urged the Union government to engage with the Pakistan government to ensure safe, hassle-free and uninterrupted movement of ‘Sangat’ to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. It also sought simplification of procedures for visiting the shrine and measures to enable more devotees to pay obeisance there.The corridor has remained shut since May 7, 2025, following the Pahalgam terror attack and subsequent pre-dawn missile strikes by the Indian armed forces on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor.In a reply in Parliament in July, the Centre acknowledged receiving representations from Sikh religious organisations seeking the corridor’s reopening, but maintained that the prevailing security situation does not permit the resumption of the pilgrimage route. Later, in August, the Ministry of External Affairs said pilgrimage travel between India and Pakistan continues under bilateral arrangements governing Sikh jathas visiting religious sites in Pakistan but “given the extant security situation… Kartarpur Sahib corridor services continue to remain suspended”,Speaking in the House, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said,. “The corridor should be opened. It is not merely a route between India and Pakistan but a matter of faith for Sikhs,” said Mann.The resolution states that Partition in 1947 left deep wounds on Punjab’s land, people and religious heritage, with the desire to visit gurdwaras left across the border continuing to resonate among devotees. “Sri Kartarpur Sahib is not merely a route connecting two countries, but a symbol of the Sikh Sangat’s faith, its unbreakable bond with Guru Sahib and the emotions associated with the shrines separated during Partition,” read the resolution.Various speakers, who took part in the debate sought reopening of the corridor. Cabinet minister Aman Arora said that the pilgrims should be given the access given the amount of faith associated with the religious place. Rebel Shiromani Akali Dal member Manpreet Singh Ayali too demanded that the corridor be reopened.Story continues below this adEarlier, moving the resolution, Bains said, “Sri Kartarpur Sahib is… a bridge that reconnects the Sikh Sangat with the soil where our Guru Sahib walked”.The gurdwara, located in Pakistan’s Narowal district, is where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent the last 18 years of his life. The corridor connects it to Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district and allows Indian pilgrims to visit the shrine in Pakistan without a visa.Guru Nanak Dev gave humanity the message of equality, service, brotherhood and ‘Sarbat da Bhala’ (welfare of all), Bains said, adding that the first Guru’s message transcends religion, community and country. His teachings show humanity the path of love, harmony, tolerance and peace. “Keeping the Kartarpur Sahib corridor open is, thus, a matter of religious freedom, human kinship and respect for Punjab’s shared heritage,” he added.The restrictions and interruptions in movement through the corridor hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community worldwide and deprive devotees of ‘darshan’, he said, calling for “sustained and sincere efforts to keep the corridor open as a living symbol of faith, peace, people-to-people connectivity and shared heritage that transcends borders”.India and Pakistan had signed an agreement on October 24, 2019, to operationalise the corridor ahead of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. It was inaugurated on November 9, 2019. Under the arrangement, Indian pilgrims of all faiths could undertake day-long visits, subject to the prescribed procedures. The agreement was extended for another five years in October 2024.Story continues below this adThe corridor had remained suspended only once before, from March 2020 till November 2021, when travel was halted amid the Covid-19 pandemic.