Akali Dal appeals to PM to announce reopening of Kartarpur Corridor

3 min readLudhianaJul 17, 2026 09:35 AM IST

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has urged PM Modi to use his Punjab visit to announce the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor and resume trade via the Attari-Wagah border. (File)

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor during his visit to Punjab on Friday. Badal also called for opening the Attari-Wagah border for trade with Pakistan.

The Kartarpur Corridor connects Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district to the Darbar Sahib gurdwara at Kartarpur in Pakistan’s Narowal district has remained shut since May 7 last year, when the Indian armed forces carried out pre-dawn strikes on terror hideouts in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir under Operation Sindoor in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Chairing a meeting of the party’s core committee and constituency in-charges, Badal also demanded that a special package be announced for Punjab to ensure development, alleging that the AAP government had left the state “bankrupt”, alongwith a legal guarantee of MSP for crops.

At the meeting, the Akali Dal decided to form a committee to finalise SAD’s manifesto for the 2027 Punjab elections.

The party said it would treat the manifesto as a legal document and implement it at the first Cabinet meeting if it comes to power in Punjab.

The Akali Dal also decided to prepare a ‘chargesheet’ against the AAP government, which would “expose how it looted Punjab and its resources and presided over the complete collapse of law and order and economy”.

According to senior Akali leader Daljit Singh Cheema, it was also decided that Sukhbir Badal would tour the constituencies that suffered huge crop losses and damage to houses and infrastructure.

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“The decision was taken after it was brought to Badal’s attention that the AAP government did not learn any lesson from last year’s devastating floods, triggered by its failure to undertake flood protection works,” Cheema said.

The Akali Dal claimed that similar mismanagement continued this year as well, with the AAP not even providing compensation for crop losses due to the floods.

With the AAP not undertaking any flood prevention measures, a major catastrophe can occur in case of heavy rain this year as well, the party claimed.

Cheema said the party would launch a movement – ‘Apna Punjab Aap Bachaiye’ – under which Sukhbir Badal would visit the flood-prone areas, interact with people and take up flood protection works, wherever needed.

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The campaign will be launched on July 18 and continue till July 23, he said.

The SAD leadership also decided to form committees to organise rallies to mark the sacrifice of Karnail Singh Isru, a Punjabi leader who was killed during the Goa Liberation Movement in 1955, on August 15, the martyrdom day of Harchand Singh Longowal on August 20, and ‘Rakhar Punya’ at Baba Bakala on August 28.