Despite the strained relations between the two countries .. Indians Sikhs begin the pilgrimage to the second most important and the most sacred temples in Pakistan

Hundreds of Sikh Indians began crossing the India-Pakistan border on Saturday through a specially designed corridor to enable them to reach their second most sacred temple - located in a border region inside Pakistan - without a visa.

The opening of the corridor, known as the Kartar Power, should allow thousands of Sikh visitors to participate without visas at the 550th anniversary of the birth of their founder in the coming days.

Among the first visitors who crossed the corridor was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who saw it as a "great moment". "I hope the relations between Pakistan and India will improve after the opening of the Kartar Bor," he told state television.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the great facilities provided by his country to followers of other religions, the best proof of the policy of religious tolerance therein.

Qureshi also said in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera that he hoped Muslims in Indian Kashmir would receive similar treatment.

Moody thanks Khan
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan on Saturday for his "cooperation" in opening the corridor.

"I would like to thank the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan for respecting India's feelings. I thank him for his cooperation," Moody said in televised remarks at the opening ceremony of the corridor on the Indian side of the border.

Persistent tension
Despite the positive sign read from the opening of the crossing, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that contacts between India and Pakistan were "non-existent" even though the rival countries were ready to open a border crossing allowing Indians to visit a Sikh temple in one of the most important aspects of cooperation between the two sides in decades.

He said relations were at their highest level since months of cross-border fighting in the northern Kargil region in 1999.

"There are no secret channels, we have fought wars and things were worse, but things are bad," he told Reuters in an interview in the Pakistani city of Lahore late on Friday.