Amidst the rising tension between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam militant attack, the future of the Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor project has come under question. However, the Indian government has not yet clarified whether the project will continue or be suspended. After the jihadi attack in Pahalgam, the Indian government has adopted a tough stance against Pakistan, due to which Pakistani visas have been cancelled and the Attari post has also been closed. Even ambassadors have been ordered to return. Due to all this, no decision has been taken on the route through which the devotees are going to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan to pay obeisance. The devotees are going to Gurdwara Sahib in Pakistan to pay obeisance as usual. Although the number of pilgrims has decreased somewhat.
Sources say that the BJP-led central government is facing a difficult situation in taking any hard decision on the future of this project. It is noteworthy that the party is keen to strengthen its base in Punjab, where Sikh support is very important. This move may create resentment among Sikhs globally against the Indian government.
Considering the importance of Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for Sikhs and Sikhism, changing its status may affect the party’s relations with the Sikh community.
Former Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib Giani Kewal Singh said that Kartarpur Sahib is a place of faith, people come here with devotion. He said that no matter what the situation may be, the Kartarpur Corridor should not be closed because it is a center of faith as well as a center of world peace and it can be a means of building trust between the two countries. .It gives a message of peace in a warlike environment.
Indian Sikhs may be deprived of visiting Gurudhams in Pakistan
After the jihadi attack in Pahalgam, this may have an impact on religious groups going to Pakistan, as the decision has been taken to close the Attari check post immediately. If religious pilgrims are also banned from visiting Pakistan, then along with Sikh groups, Hindu groups will also be deprived of visiting Gurudhams in Pakistan. India has reduced the number of members of the Pakistani embassy.
It should be remembered that a group of Sikhs and one Hindu pilgrims from Punjab and other states, including the Shiromani Committee, go to Pakistan four times a year. In Sikh groups, 3000 to 7000 pilgrims used to visit Gurudhams in Pakistan on a 10-day visa to celebrate the birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Baisakhi, the martyrdom anniversary of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji and the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In the coming time, two Sikh groups were to go to Pakistan in the month of June to celebrate the martyrdom anniversary of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji on June 16 and the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh on June 29, but in the current situation, the conditions for these groups to go do not seem to be created.
Sikh devotees in the groups going to celebrate the martyrdom anniversary of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji and the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh have also submitted their passports to the leaders of the groups. Shiromani Committee Secretary Partap Singh said that every Sikh yearns to visit the Gurudhams left behind during the partition in Pakistan. Even now, the passports of 324 devotees have reached the Travel Department, for whose visas further action is being taken, lists have been sent to the governments. If the groups are stopped from going to Pakistan, then how will the Sikhs be able to visit their Gurudhams left behind? He told the Indian government that this right of the pilgrims should not be abolished, it should be taken care of, but in view of the current situation, there is no possibility of the groups going to Pakistan this time.
Kar Sewa of Pakistan Gurdwaras will not be possible either
For the past several decades, the great saints of Kar Sewa Guru Ke Bagh Wale had been going from India from time to time to provide Kar Sewa to various Gurdwaras in Pakistan whose condition had become very bad. Leaving the ongoing Kar Sewa halfway, Baba Satnam Singh Kar Sewa Guru Ke Bagh Wale and Baba Mehal Singh Kar Sewa Guru Ke Bagh Wale have returned to India from Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border. After the attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam, India has taken the initiative and severed all its ties with Pakistan, in view of which orders have been issued by the governments to return Indian and Pakistani tourists to their respective countries within 48 hours, in view of which Baba Mehal Singh Kar Sewa Guru Ke Bagh Wale has also left his services in Pakistan Gurdwaras halfway and come to India along with his companions. Baba Mehal Singh said that he had a one-year, three-month visa issued by the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi and he had gone to Pakistan from India on March 23 to conduct Kar Sewa. He said that at present Kar Sewa is being conducted at Gurdwara Tambu Sahib Sri Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Shaheed Singh Singhnia Lahore and Gurdwara Bal Leela Ji Nankana Sahib. He said that if tensions continue between India and Pakistan for a long time, the maintenance of Gurdwaras and Kar Sewa will lag behind.
