ISLAMABAD: The US government on Friday hailed the opening of the Kartarpur corridor after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan set the foundation stone to kickstart the construction of the project on Wednesday.

During the daily news briefing, on Thursday, Robert Palladino, US State Department Deputy Spokesman said: “I understand that it’s kind of a visa-free way for Indians to visit this important Sikh site. And of course, the United States – we would welcome efforts to increase people-to-people ties between India and Pakistan.” 

Palladino was responding to questions on the construction of the corridor which will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur, the final resting place of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in the Gurdaspur district of India.

The inauguration ceremony on Wednesday was attended by a few political leaders from India, including Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Union Minister for State Hardeep Singh Puri.

Khan, in his address, had urged both Pakistan and India that the corridor was an opportunity for both the countries to move ahead. However, while New Delhi welcomed Islamabad’s plans to build the corridor, it refused an invitation to attend the Saarc summit or to resume the bilateral dialogue.