News18 Daybreak | Indo-Pakistan Delegations to Meet Over Kartarpur Corridor Today and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

India and Pakistan officials are slated to meet on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border on Wednesday to decide on the modalities of the Kartarpur corridor, three months after the two countries agreed on the project.

The corridor, essentially a border crossing, links Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur - the final resting place of Sikh faith's founder Guru Nanak Dev - to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India's Gurdaspur district.

Details of the meeting: According to PTI quoted sources, New Delhi will press for the hassle-free travel of Indian pilgrims to the Pakistani side besides asking Islamabad to insulate them from any propaganda by Khalistani separatists

The Indian delegation will comprise representatives from Union Home Ministry, External Affairs Ministry, BSF, National Highways Authority of India and Punjab government, they said.

This is the first time these officials between the officials of the 2 countries to decide on the details such as alignment of the corridor.

 A second meeting on the Pakistan side will, however, be scheduled depending on the outcome of today’s meeting.

Bearing on conflict: The meeting comes against the backdrop of tensions between the two countries over the Pulwama terror attack and the subsequent IAF strikes. The Centre on Saturday, however, said that today’s meeting is not in any way a resumption of the bilateral dialogue.

"It is related to the emotions of Indian citizens of Sikh faith,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said adding ,”So you have to understand the objective of the meeting. This has nothing to do with any kind of resumption of bilateral talks.”

Following the Pulwama terror attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, questions were raised about whether the two countries will go ahead with the Kartarpur corridor.

Among the many concerned voices was Congress MLA from Punjab Navjyot Singh Sidhu’s who had said that, “Sikhs' Kartarpur corridor cannot stop. Do you want the decision taken by the two PMs to be scuttled? Then you will encourage them.... Nobody can bend the country before terrorism and it is very clear.”

But these fears were laid to rest after the both sides confirmed that they would be meeting on Thursday over the corridor.

SC HEARING on Rafale Deal continues day after Centre allowed to file affidavit against news report

The Supreme Court will today resume hearing petitions calling for a review of its Rafale case judgement from December that said there was no reason to doubt the decision-making process amid Congress allegations of corruption in the 2016 jet deal. The top court had in December dismissed petitions alleging that the government had gone for an overpriced deal to help Anil Ambani's company bag an offset contract with jet-maker Dassault. A day before the crucial hearing, the Centre on Wednesday told the top court that documents filed by the petitioners are "sensitive to national security" and those who conspired in photocopying the papers have committed theft and put the security in jeopardy by leaking them, targeting The Hindu newspaper over its investigative stories on the purchase of 36 fighter jets from France.

In the hearing last week, the Centre citing the Hindu report on the Rafale deal had accused the paper of stealing confidential government documents.

The Centre had even said that the documents are not admissible and constitutes an offence under the secrecy act. The SC in turn slammed the government saying that if the documents were stolen, “the government should put its own house in order.” “It is one thing to say that we should look at these documents with suspicion. But to say we can't even look at those documents may not be a correct submission in law," Justice SK Kaul had said at the time.

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