Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday (30 September) said that Pakistan would invite former Indian Prime Minister and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh for the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor on 9 November.

Qureshi said the Imran Khan-led government has decided to hold the inauguration ceremony in a big way. "We are making big preparations for it," he said.

"We have decided to invite former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He is held in high esteem and represents the Sikh community.

"On behalf of the Pakistan government, I extend our invite to him. We shall invite him in writing too," Qureshi said.

"We want all the Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur and participate in the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev," he said.

The Kartarpur gurdwara, located on the bank of river Ravi in Pakistan, is about four km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district, and about 120 km northeast of Lahore. Guru Nanak had lived there for 18 years until his demise in 1539.

The corridor will allow pilgrims to travel from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan. It will be thrown open on 9 November to mark the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)