India asks Pakistan to reverse its decision on changing management of Kartarpar Sahib

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 5

India on Thursday has condemned a move by Pakistan to transfer the management and maintenance of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara to the administrative control of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body.

The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (PSGPC), a body run by the minority Sikh Community, was in control of the shrine.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) today called upon Pakistan “to reverse its arbitrary decision depriving the Sikh minority community its right to manage the affairs of the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib”.

Kartarpur Sahib was opened last year for visa-free access via a ‘corridor’ from Dera Baba Nanak in India.

“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,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

The Sikh community has responded sharply and has expressed grave concern at this decision of Pakistan.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, president, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), said he had sought time from the MEA to get and lodge a formal protest to the Government of Pakistan.

The MEA statement said: “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.”