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.

What You May Have Missed

China again blocks move to list JeM chief Masood Azhar as Global Terrorist by UN, govt expresses disappointment

  China again blocked an initiative to tag Jaish-e Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist" by the United Nations Security Council. Beijing's move on Wednesday came as the Security Council was to take up a resolution on the matter, days after the February 14 Jaish attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which 40 soldiers died. The resolution, say sources, was backed by unprecedented number of countries going into the "double digits". India said it was "disappointed by this outcome".The proposal to designate Masood Azhar under the 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council was moved by France, UK and the US on February 27. Germany became a co-sponsor to the proposal later on Wednesday. China's objection, made on technical grounds, came an hour before the deadline, after which the resolution to tag him a global terrorist would have been considered adopted by the UN Security Council. In a note sent to the Council, China said it needed more time to examine the sanctions request on Masood Azhar, diplomats said.

News18 Election Tracker: Congress-JDS’ Karnataka alliance, Congress releases second list in UP and Bihar oppn grand alliance

Congress, JD(S) finalise 20-8 seat sharing deal for Karnataka

The Congress and the JD(S) on Wednesday finally thrashed out a 20-8 seat sharing arrangement in Karnataka for the Lok Sabha elections beginning April 11. The seat sharing was hammered out at a meeting between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali at Kochi in Kerala on Wednesday evening, party sources said. JD(S) has already announced Gowda's grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna as candidates from the party bastions of Mandya and Hassan respectively.

Turncoats, former MPs who can hurt SP-BSP alliance find place in Congress’ second list for UP

The Congress on Wednesday released its second list of 21 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, fielding former parliamentarians from its ranks and three turncoats who can damage the prospects of the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. The second list has names of 16 candidates from Uttar Pradesh, taking the total number of candidates announced by the party for the electorally crucial state, where it was overlooked for an alliance, to 27. The list also includes five candidates from Maharashtra.

Congress likely to contest from 11 seats, deal 'almost' sealed in Bihar grand alliance

The seat-sharing deal between grand alliance members in Bihar has been "almost finalised" and the Congress is likely to contest from 11 seats in the state, PTI quoted sources said. Intensive negotiations were held among grand alliance constituents in Delhi on Wednesday as top leaders of the formation sought to settle the issue of seat-sharing for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Lalu Yadav-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is expected to get the lion's share of seats (about 20) and the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party is likely to get four. The Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and Vikasshil Insan Party (VIP) would get one seat each, according to sources in grand alliance.