Kartarpur Corridor to be inaugurated on Saturday, in historic Indo-Pak move
Kartarpur (Pakistan): Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will throw open the Kartarpur Corridor on Saturday which will provide for Indian pilgrims to visit one of Sikhism's holiest shrines in Pakistani town of Narowal without a visa, in a rare and landmark people-to-people initiative in the midst of their strained bilateral ties over Kashmir.
The corridor links Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur in India to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak.
The Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib is located across Ravi river in Pakistan and is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.
The inauguration of the corridor comes in the midst of frayed ties between India and Pakistan following New Delhi's decision in August to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the corridor on the Pakistani side while his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will attend a similar event on the Indian side.
"This is a momentous occasion for us. We are so happy. The corridor should have been built long back," said Manjit Singh, a Sikh from Gurudaspur.
In an interaction with a group of Indian journalists, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday termed as "historic" the opening of the corridor but made it clear that the initiative was not an indication of Pakistan's willingness to engage in dialogue with India.
The Pakistan Foreign Minister called the Kartarpur Corridor initiative a shining example and gesture of goodwill from Prime Minister Khan, saying it is a reflection of his deep respect for Sikhism and Guru Nanak.
Notwithstanding their strained ties over Kashmir, India and Pakistan signed an agreement last month, paving the way for the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor. According to the pact, Pakistan will allow 5,000 Indian pilgrims daily to visit Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
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Uttarakhand Assembly passes censure motion against opposition over women's reservation bill
Dehradun (PTI): The Uttarakhand Assembly passed a censure motion against the Congress and other opposition parties on Tuesday for allegedly blocking the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, in Parliament.
The motion, which expressed the House's formal disapproval of the opposition's conduct, triggered a massive uproar by Congress members, leading to the adjournment of the House sine die.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Subodh Uniyal moved the censure motion, citing the "uncooperative attitude" of opposition parties toward the bill seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies.
Addressing a special daylong session convened specifically to discuss "Nari Samman -- Rights in Democracy", Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the bill's passage would have benefitted every political party.
Dhami noted that after delimitation, the number of Assembly seats in the hill state would have gone up to 105, with 35 reserved for women. He added that the number of Lok Sabha seats from Uttarakhand would have risen from five to seven or eight.
"The opposition fears that if women from ordinary households enter politics, the shops of dynastic politics run by certain parties will shut down," the chief minister claimed.
He compared the opposition's conduct in Parliament to the assembly in Mahabharat where Draupadi was insulted. Dhami further likened the opposition's behaviour to the "arrogance of Ravan".
The chief minister highlighted his government's initiatives, asserting that Uttarakhand was the first state to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to protect women's rights. He said the UCC freed Muslim women from practices like "halala", "iddat", polygamy and child marriage.
Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya questioned the technical feasibility of the bill, calling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) claims of providing reservation by 2029 "misleading".
He argued that the bill is linked to census and delimitation processes. The Congress leader said the 2026 census would conclude by 2027 and the final data publication would take two more years.
"The delimitation process will take another six years. The actual implementation of this bill is not possible before 2034," Arya said, describing the move as a strategy to protect the BJP's "political ground".
The session also saw high drama outside the Assembly gates, where Congress MLA Virendra Jati staged a protest, demanding the payment of "outstanding" dues to farmers by sugar mills.
Jati arrived at the Assembly's main gate with a tractor-trolley loaded with sugarcane and dumped it on the road. The move brought the traffic to a halt, prompting traffic and security personnel to intervene and clear the area.
Women Congress workers also staged a demonstration against the "anti-people policies" of the state government.
