Indian pilgrims ‘on historic visit’ to Pakistan temple

A historic corridor to one of Sikhism's holiest shrines is now open, allowing Indian pilgrims rare visa-free access to the site in Pakistan, BBC News reports.

The Kartarpur corridor leads from the border straight to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, 4km (2.5 miles) away.

But tensions between India and Pakistan have made the shrine hard to access in recent years.

However, they reached an agreement over access last month, fulfilling a long-standing wish of the Sikh community.

The corridor - which is in Punjab, a region divided during the partition of British India in 1947 - has opened just days before the 550th anniversary of the birth of Sikhism's founder, Guru Nanak, on 12 November.

The first Indian pilgrims to use the Kartarpur corridor included former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh; Amarinder Singh, the chief minister of India's Punjab state; and 150 Indian parliamentarians.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Imran Khan, inaugurated the corridor on either side of the border on Saturday morning.

Devotees from all over the world, including the UK and Canada, are also visiting for the celebrations.