Manmohan agreed to be at Kartarpur event as common man: FM.

Byline: Shakeel Ahmed

MULTAN -- Foreign MinisAter Shah Mehmood Qureshi has announced that former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh has accepted his invitation to attend the Kartarpur corridor inauguration ceremony, scheduled for Nov 9, albeit as a common man rather than as a special guest.

'He is welcome even as a common participant,' the foreign minister said while talking to the media on Saturday.

Mr Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate Pakistan's part of the corridor, facilitating pilgrimage of 5,000 Indian Sikhs everyday to their holy place. India was initially reluctant to open the corridor but due to public pressure from the Indian Punjab, New Delhi decided to arrange a ceremony related to the corridor the same day, he said, adding that the arrangements made by Pakistan were way better than those being finalised by India.

Earlier Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in an announcement on Oct 3 stated that the former Indian premier Dr Manmohan Singh would visit the Guru Nanak celebrations in Pakistan on his invitation, an indirect way of saying that Pakistan's invitation to the Indian leader was not a factor. According to NDTV, Dr Singh will visit the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan for the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak as part of an all-party group.

About Pakistan's efforts to defuse tensions in the Gulf region, the foreign minister said that both Saudi Arabia and Iran had agreed to resolve their differences through dialogue. He explained: 'Some forces are active to damage the unity of Muslim ummah, but it is in the ummah's interest that the differences are resolved through negotiations.'

He also underlined the need for restoration of peace to the neighbouring Afghanistan and said Pakistan condemned the recent blast in Nangarhar mosque that claimed precious lives. 'To restore peace in Afghanistan, there is a need to stop violence,' he said.

Mr Qureshi said India failed to get Pakistan blacklisted by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and expressed the hope that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government would achieve all FATF targets to get the country out of grey list.

He explained that Pakistan had been given various tasks till February 2020 that the incumbent government would achieve and bring the country out of grey list. He said the FATF recognised the steps taken by the government to control money laundering and terror financing.

The foreign minister said the world...