India, Pakistan mull a corridor to Sikh shrine
June 29th, 2008 - 5:27 pm ICT by IANS ( 1 comment )
Amritsar, June 29 (IANS) A two-km barbed wire corridor is one of the options being considered by the governments of India and Pakistan to enable Sikhs to visit the famous Sikh gurudwara at Kartarpur inside Pakistani territory. The Kartarpur shrine is visible from the Indian border at Dera Baba Nanak and is over two-km inside Pakistani territory. The shrine has historical and religious significance for Sikhs as it is linked to the first Sikh guru, Nanak Dev.
An indication to this effect was given by Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during his visit to the border area in the Dera Baba Nanak sector near here Saturday.
Mukherjee said senior officials and experts will visit the area shortly to conduct a feasibility study on how the corridor could be built to enable pilgrims to visit the shrine without hindrance.
There have been demands from Sikh leaders and the Punjab government to the central government to take up the matter with the Pakistan government.
Mukherjee told reporters that he had already mentioned the issue to his Pakistani counterpart, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, for the construction of the corridor as an express link from the Indian side till the shrine.
He said after the feasibility study, strategic clearance from the Pakistan government would be worked out in this regard.
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Tags: baba nanak, border area, external affairs minister, external affairs minister pranab mukherjee, feasibility study, guru nanak dev, india and pakistan, india pakistan, indian border, pakistan government, pakistani territory, pranab mukherjee, punjab government, qureshi, religious significance, shah mahmood, sikh guru, sikh gurudwara, sikh leaders, sikhs
June 30th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I was born in Lahore from a migrant from Ferozepur Cantt, decendent of Kashmiri Pundits and am now residing in Fl. USA for the last fourty years. Allama Iqbal was from a Kashmiri Pundit family and mamny many more decendents of Kashmiri Pundits are living in Pakistan. Most of us have forgotten our heritage. Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims are actually South Indian having different religions but their genes and culture is still the same. If the sikhs and the Indian govt. suggests a two mile corridor for pilgrms, we should accomodate them beyond their request. Just waive the visa for them. They are the childrens of this land as well who were seperated by a division. They just to choose to seek God almighty’s blessings in a different way than ours and so do the Hidus and the Christians or Jews. Converting to different religions is sometimes by choice and most often for economic reasons. Behind the scene the war has been about the power game of some who sway the good hearted general public to fulfill their own agenda. So lets show some common sense and untie some divide of 1947.