SAD wants the government to negotiate a land swap with Pakistan so that Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur becomes part of India in exchange for a mutually agreed piece of land to Pakistan elsewhere along the border. SAD patron and former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Monday said the party's core committee had passed a resolution to that effect in its meeting in Badal village on Sunday. According to the resolution, the SAD core committee has decided to "approach the Union Government to request to approach its Pakistani counterpart in order to secure the inclusion of Kartarpur Sahib shrine into India in exchange for a mutually agreed piece of land elsewhere along the border". Badal, however, defended the Centre's decision to call off the meeting between foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, saying it was "difficult to hold talks in the backdrop of recent incidents of brutal killings by Pakistani armymen [and terrorists]" Asked if the Centre had lost a chance to take up the Kartarpur Sahib corridor issue with Pakistan, Badal said that in the backdrop of "cruel" incidents against Indian soldiers, the talks could not have been held.
