In a move which exposes Pakistan for the intolerant and radically Islamic-supremacist state that it is, the Imran Khan-led Pakistani government on Tuesday snatched the control and administration of the historical Darbar Sahib Gurdwara at Kartarpur Sahib from the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) and handed it over to a Muslim-body called the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). While the PSGPC was set up on lines of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) of India for the maintenance and upkeep of Gurdwaras and the Sikh community in Pakistan, the Imran Khan, by snatching from the body their control over Kartarpur Sahib has exposed the duplicitous mindset of the terror state as a whole.
India has reacted strongly to the absurd decision of the Pakistani government, snatching control of the historical Gurdwara from the minority-Sikh community and handing it over to a Muslim-only body. In fact, the Indian Foreign Ministry has even received representations from the Sikh community, including those from the SGPC and DSGMC “expressing grave concern at this decision by Pakistan targeting the rights of the minority Sikh community”. The Indian said in a statement, “Such actions only expose the reality of the Pakistani government and its leadership’s tall claims of preserving and protecting the rights and welfare of the religious minority communities.”
An official order on November 3 read, “Consequent upon the approval of Project Management Unit (PMU) Kartarpur Corridor by ECC of the Cabinet, and ratified by the Cabinet (conveyed by Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA)…dated 23.10.2020), the competent authority has been pleased to establish Project Management Unit (PMU), a self-financing body, for Management and Maintenance of Gurdwara Dardar Sahib Kartarpur (GADSK) under the administrative control of ETPB.” The order also listed nine officials and staff members who have been posted at PMU at Kartarpur Narowal to implement the Project Business Plan. All of these officials are Muslims, and not even one Sikh finds mention in the order.
India’s statement on the shocking development said, “This unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor as also the religious sentiments of the Sikh community at large…Pakistan is called upon to reverse its arbitrary decision to deprive the Sikh minority community its right to manage affairs of the Holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.”
Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib had come to limelight last year, when India and Pakistan inaugurated the historic Kartarpur Corridor, which was a long-standing demand of the Sikh Community. Kartarpur Sahib was the place where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh faith spent the last 18 years of his mortal life. As such, the site is tremendously revered by Sikhs, and for Pakistan to transfer the control of the Gurdwara standing there to a Muslim body goes against all sense and basic decency. Incidentally, the brazenly hurtful and insensitive decision of the Pakistani government comes days before the first anniversary of the inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, and Guru Nanak Dev’s 551st birth anniversary on November 30. This is the first instance where the PSGPC has been shunted out of authority in the control of a Gurdwara in Pakistan and paints a very grim picture of the times which lie ahead.
Did the Sikhs living in Pakistan really believe that Pakistani government will give them any justice? They just want the money the Gurdwara gets in donations.