The Indian government says that the Sikh jatha was not allowed to go to Pakistan due to security reasons. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee President Harjinder Singh Dhami has condemned this decision of the central government and termed it as discrimination against the Sikhs by the center. Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, the acting Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib, has termed the Indian government’s decision not to send a jatha of Sikh devotees from India to Pakistan this year in November on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji as wrong. He has said that if cricket can be played between the two countries, then why can’t the jatha of Sikh devotees go to Pakistan. Giani Harpreet Singh and many other Sikh leaders have condemned this decision of the central government. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has termed the center’s decision not to send the Sikh jatha to Pakistan as anti-Sikh. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann says that when the Indian cricket team can play a match with the Pakistani cricket team, then why has the Sikh jatha been refused to be sent to Pakistan. Some Sikh leaders are saying that this is not the first time that the central government has pushed the Sikhs, but the center has pushed the Sikhs on many occasions. According to these leaders, Punjab has also been discriminated against while providing central assistance to flood-hit Punjab. Some leaders also say that the Punjabi film of famous singer Diljit Dosanjh was not allowed to be released in India because a Pakistani female artist worked in it, but when the Indian team can play a cricket match with the Pakistani team, why is it so reluctant to send a Sikh group to Pakistan?
Relations between India and Pakistan became tense in April this year when the Pahalgam terror attack took place. After that, the Indian government broke off relations with Pakistan in many aspects. Despite this, diplomatic relations between the two countries are still intact. The mutual coordination between the two has certainly decreased, but it has not completely ended. There is a 3323 km long border between India and Pakistan. Therefore, the two countries cannot remain completely separated from each other.
When India was partitioned in 1947, more than two dozen historical Gurdwaras including Sri Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib remained in Pakistan. Sikh groups have been visiting Pakistan regularly since the same year under the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, 1950, on four important festivals or occasions, including the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Apart from the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Sikh groups from India have been visiting Sikh Gurdwaras in Pakistan on the occasions of Baisakhi (Khalsa Creation Day), Guru Arjan Dev Shaheed Purab and Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death anniversary. Apart from this, after the establishment of the Kartarpur Corridor in November 2019, the visit of Sikhs to Sri Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib for Darshan Deedar is a decision outside the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, but at present the Kartarpur Yatra is also closed. While the Sikh community is demanding the resumption of the Kartarpur Yatra, the central government is being appealed to allow the Sikh Jatha from India to visit the shrines in Pakistan on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
The central cabinet includes two Sikh ministers, Hardeep Singh Puri and Ravneet Singh Bittu. Both these Sikh ministers and other Sikh leaders in the BJP often claim that Prime Minister Modi is making great efforts for the welfare of Sikhs and that the BJP government at the center is truly sympathetic to the Sikhs, but the central government’s refusal to allow the Sikh Jatha to visit Pakistan is presenting a different story.
The two Sikh ministers in the central government and other Sikh leaders in the BJP should make efforts to convey the sentiments of the Sikhs to the Home Ministry and allow the Sikh Jatha from India to visit the shrines in Pakistan on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The central government should also refrain from getting into unnecessary disputes with the Sikhs and allow the Sikh Jatha to visit the shrines in Pakistan.
