The call for a visa-free Kartarpur Sahib corridor was an old, strong, persistent demand from the Sikh community. The move was mooted first during the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s bus ride to Lahore in 1999, while Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf approved the idea in 2000, and issued various tenders for construction purposes. India, however, maintained that the two-decade-old request has been lying pending with Pakistan. As the shrine lies only 3 kilometers from the border with India, Pakistan, in the year 2000, agreed to allow Sikh pilgrims from India to visit the shrine visa-free by constructing a bridge from the border to the shrine.
