Badal invited to Pakistan for setting up of Nanak varsity

Chandigarh, Nov 22 : Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has been invited to Pakistan for the ground-breaking ceremony of the Guru Nanak Dev University being set up by the Pakistan government at Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak Dev - the founder of Sikhism.

The invitation was extended by former education minister of Pakistan's Punjab province, Imran Masood, at a meeting with Badal and others here. Masood has been instrumental in doing the ground work for setting up the university at Nankana Sahib named after Guru Nanak Dev.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the university at Nankana Sahib, near Lahore city, will take place next month.

Masood said the formal invitation for the university ceremony would be sent to Badal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by the Pakistan government shortly.

The Indian Punjab has a famous university, Guru Nanak Dev University, at the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, 250 km from here.

Masood said he is hopeful of cooperation from the Indian Punjab government in helping set up the university in Pakistan and the university in Amritsar would extend all possible help in providing literature and other related educational material for the research in this upcoming university at Nankana Sahib.