Coming in its true colours of treating religious minorities as easy targets of its State sponsored hatred and persecution, Pakistan has now attempted to interfere with the management of the historical Gurudwara in Kartarpur Sahib by asking a separate trust manned exclusively by Muslims only, with no representation from the Sikh community, to “look after” the management of the shrine. As it amounts to undue interference and hegemony of the Pakistani establishment, India has taken Pakistan to task over this unwarranted move and while condemning it, has asked Pakistani Government to reverse the decision forthwith. It may be recalled only last year in the month of November, both India and Pakistan threw open a corridor linking Dera Baba Sahib in Gurdaspur in India and Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan in a historic people to people initiative. The historic shrine is located in Narowal district in Pakistan across the River Ravi which is nearly four kilometres away from Dera Baba Nanak shrine and is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikh faith. Only in March this year , the corridor was shut on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the decision to entrust the management of the shrine to the Evacuee Trust Board instead of allowing it to be continued as hitherto by Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhanhak Committee (PSGPC) is totally unjustified notwithstanding the Pakistani version that the Gurudwara remained under the control of the PSGPC and that the Project Management Unit under the Evacuee Trust Property Board had been created only to ”facilitate” the PSGPC in this respect. The Ministry of External Affairs, upon receiving representations from the Sikh community expressing concern over the decision to transfer the management and maintenance of the Gurudwara to a non-Sikh body, has taken up the matter with the Pakistani Government. The Ministry of External Affairs further confirmed that reports were perused about Pakistan taking such steps of transferring the management of the Gurudwara away from the PSGPC, a body run by the minority Sikh community to the administrative control of a non-Sikh Body. The decision being unilateral, was not acceptable and deserved condemnation.
Pakistan must change its double standards that of raising uncalled for and totally unjustifiable voices of propaganda and spreading of canards about India ”not treating” its minorities fairly well while in reality, not only was such a stance of Pakistan bundle of blatant lies and misinformation but in fact ,the condition of Hindus and Sikhs in that country was that of wanton persecution leading to decimation of their numbers. Only on November 2, an old Hindu temple was demolished in Karachi, the relics and the idols of the deities broken and thrown out of the temple in Lee Market Ground Bhimpura, Karachi. Such an incident, being third during the last 20 days and now unilaterally and arbitrarily, altering the management of the famous historic Gurudwara were enough evidences of how minorities were treated in that country. Pakistan must try to behave like a civilised country and shun its discriminatory, hateful, frenzied and obscurantist policy towards its religious minorities.
The MEA has, as such, called upon Pakistan to reverse its arbitrary decision to deprive the Sikh minority community its rights to manage affairs of the Holy Gurduwara Kartarpur Sahib. It is hoped that good sense would prevail upon Pakistani establishment to change its decision at an early date.
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