Shri Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan is one of the major Gurudwara’s in Pakistan along with Nanak Sahib. On November 9th, 2019 Both governments Inaugurated the terminal Building of their respective sides as peace of gesture. With this inauguration, the people of India can visit the Kartarpur Sahib.
HOW TO APPLY :
The process for Applying for the Kartarpur sahib is actually Easy. As it allows you to visit on the same day of return, you can apply for a particular date, all you need to visit on Ministry of Home Affairs Specially design website https://prakashpurb550.mha.gov.in/kpr/. you have to apply at least two week before, Indian passport Holder & OCI Holder can only apply for this historic visit.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED
- INDIAN PASSPORT OR OCI ( overseas citizen of India ) HOLDER
- Passport size photo
- Scanned copy of Passport front & back in PDF.
- Visa Fee : USD 20
FILL THE FORM ONLINE
Select the apply online header menu on the official website, then you need to select whether Indian passport or an OCI holder, select the date for your visit, the next page will be opened to fill your information, where they will ask you to fill each & every information as per your passport. After filling in all the information, at last, you can download the Registration form with the File number. But keep this in mind: the registration form is not the approval to travel. MHA will send you the link to the ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) At least 4 Days Before Travelling, which gives you actual permission to travel. Take the colored printout of ETA as this will be your main document along with your passport.
HOW TO REACH KARTARPUR CORRIDOR
As we had a lot of expectations, the expectations turns out to be a great experience for all of us, starting Our Day from Amritsar, we booked a cab for the day to take us to the Indian Immigration terminal & Return for INR 1500, it took us about an hour and a half to reach the Indian side of the terminal.
CROSSING TERMINALS INTO PAKISTAN LOC
The process is very simple. Like you travel abroad, first, you enter inside the Indian terminal of immigration, you need to show your ETA & Passport to BSF Soldiers only then you are allowed to go in. the terminal is the same as a small airport building with immigration, customs, etc.
Once you enter the terminal, you have to take a mandatory polio drop before entering Pakistan as a precaution. Then you queue in immigration, the process is the same as normal immigration they take your photos, scan your fingers & then they stamp on your ETA (Not on Passport). After you cross the immigration, they ask you to fill a small form regarding how much money you are carrying and to mention all the essential things you carry along with you like a camera, etc.
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Once you cross the counter you are offered to exit from the terminal, there a cart is waiting for you which will take you to LOC ( Line of Control ) which is about 2-3 minutes from the terminal. There your documents will be rechecked again by the BSF Soldiers. Then, here comes the most awaited moment – you can cross the LOC from Zero line to enter Pakistan. Definitely, a goosebump moment for all, once your foot is in the land of Pakistan and their Rangers welcomes you with a good gesture. Finally, you realize you are in Pakistan. There we took another cart car which took us to the Pakistani immigration terminal which is about 3 minutes from the Line of Control.
Once you reach the terminal building there are counters on the left for Money exchange & National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) where you can exchange your currency into Dollars or Pakistani Rupees & on the next counter you have to deposit 20 Dollars on the Bank of Pakistan Counter as they will give you Green Receipt Card issued by NBP. Now you have to keep this green receipt card safely as this would be your proof till you are in Pakistan.
Now we all are ready to enter the terminal building with Green Card & Passport. The process of immigration is the same as in India, they will stamp on the Green Receipt of NBP (Not on passport) for entering Pakistan . After crossing the immigration Pakistani rangers will give you a Yatree Badge with a yellow Lanyard (which is only for Indians), As Pakistani people get the red one.
After crossing the immigration a red low floor bus is already waiting for you to take you to the main gurudwara gate which is about 4-5 km ( 10 Minutes ), in the middle, you will notice a Pakistani check post, Pakistani rangers. The best part about the journey from India to Pakistan is you will never feel weird to be in the land of Pakistan. It’s an amazing feeling which is a must for every Indian to experience once in a lifetime.
ENTERING THE CORRIDOR
Once you reach the Kartarpur Sahib main gate, you will be checked again by the Pakistani rangers along with your green bank card and passport then they will let you go inside. Gurudwara is in the middle of the beautiful symmetrical square architecture. You will see hundreds of Pakistani people visiting this area, as per local people this gurudwara is more popular among Pakistani people to come and meet Indian people here.
SHRI KARTARPUR SAHIB IS MOREOVER BECOMING A TOWNHALL PLACE FOR ALL THE INDIAN & PAKISTANI PEOPLE TO COME AND MEET EACH OTHER.
On the right, you will notice a big knife shape ( kirpan ) which shows the bravery of Sikh people & just behind it is a garden as per officials Baba guru Nanak dev Ji did farming in this farm. Now, this farm is beautifully designed with “EK OMKAR‘’ means God is one.
You can also have the Langar in the Langar hall, which starts from noon & continues till the Afternoon.
LOCAL MARKET IN KARTARPUR CORRIDOR
There is a small local market which attracts Indian and Pakistani people to come & enjoy the local Pakistani food. Although there are hardly 10-12 shops, most of them are Souvenir shops. India does purchase a lot of food items for families to take back home as a sweet gesture.
MY OVERALL EXPERIENCE
Apart from a lot of excitement and great gestures from Pakistani people, suddenly you will start feeling tired and by that time it’s already evening. As in every 30 minutes, there are shuttle buses that run from The Gurudwara’s main gate to the immigration office. At last, you are only allowed to visit before 5 PM. After that everyone needs to go back.
As you enter, the same process will take you back to the Indian side of immigration just a security check from the Indian officials & Custom official and that’s it. Yours live one of the memorable moments came to an end.
In this one-day trip, the highlight of the journey is the route from Indian LOC to Kartarpur Sahib – meeting people & crossing lines of control are the moments that will be remembered by you for a lifetime. Highly advise visiting Shri Kartarpur Sahib Official website to know all the instructions before Going https://prakashpurb550.mha.gov.in/kpr/
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