NEW DELHI, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- India has deputed its two union ministers to attend the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage corridor for Indian pilgrims to be held in Pakistan on Wednesday.
Pakistan had invited India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to attend the ceremony. However, Swaraj cited her pre-committed political engagements midst forthcoming elections in several states as the reason for not able to attend the ceremony.
Instead, she deputed two ministers - Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Junior Minister for Urban Development Hardeep Singh Puri.
In a letter addressed to her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Swaraj hoped that Pakistan would expedite the construction of the pilgrimage corridor in order to ensure that Indian citizens could pay their respects at the Sikhs shrine Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib using the corridor as soon as possible.
India had recently urged Pakistan to expedite the process of building the corridor to facilitate the Sikhs pilgrims who visit the shrines located in Pakistan in large numbers every year.
