Kartarpur corridor won’t help with talks: Dal Khalsa

The project can play only limited role, says the radical Sikh outfit.

To go with India-unrest-religion-Sikh-anniversary,FOCUS by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA 
 In a picture taken on May 28, 2014, Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh talks during an interview with AFP at the Dal Khalsa office in Amritsar. The military's 1984 assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar -- called Operation Blue Star -- was aimed at flushing out militants holed up inside demanding an independent Sikh homeland. Thirty years later, support for such a homeland is all but dead, with Sikhs, particularly younger ones, more interested in jobs than a separate nation. AFP PHOTO/NARINDER NANU

Radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa on Friday said the peace between India and Pakistan was directly linked to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and that the Kartarpur corridor could play only a limited role in facilitating dialogue.

Dal Khalsa leader Kanwar Pal Singh, in a statement, said that directly linking the opening of the corridor to India-Pakistan peace overtures was not only exaggerating the issue but also a move to ensure that the project runs into rough weather.

“Setting up of the corridor by both Pakistan and India is a welcome step as it fulfils the Sikh aspirations for a direct access to the Kartarpur Sahib. Nothing more should be attributed to it,” he said.

“We are of the opinion that peace between both the hostile and nuclear countries rests on finding a political solution to the Kashmir dispute as per the aspirations of Kashmiris. To drive his point home, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically stated during the ground-breaking ceremony that the contentious issue between both nuclear countries is Kashmir,” he added.