India summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires on Friday to protest Islamabad’s decision to hand over Durbar Sahib Gurdwara’s management in Kartarpur to a body without Sikh representatives.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said Aftab Hassan Khan, Pakistani high commission charge d’affaires, was “summoned and conveyed our strong protest.”
“It was also conveyed to him that this unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly reprehensible and goes against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and also the religious sentiments of the Sikh community in general,” he said.
Srivastava said the Indian government has received representations from the Sikh community “expressing grave concern about this decision by Pakistan, aimed at the rights of the minority Sikh community.”
He added: “Pakistan is asked to reverse its arbitrary decision to deprive the minority Sikh community of its right to manage the affairs of the holy gurdwara. [in] Kartarpur “.
Darbar Sahib Gurdwara is built on the site of Kartarpur in Pakistan where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent the last years of his life.
According to a notification issued on November 3, Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs handed over the management of the gurdwara to a “project management unit” under the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), a government department that oversees the shrines of the minorities of the country.
The gurdwara was previously under the leadership of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC). There are no Sikhs among the officials and staff appointed by the ETPB for Darbar Sahib Gurdwara.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday described India’s position on the issue as “deliberate propaganda” and said that the PSGPC remains responsible for rituals in gurdwaras, including that of Kartarpur. The project management unit under the ETPB “was simply created to facilitate the PSGPC in this regard,” it said in a statement.
India and Pakistan opened a 4.7-kilometer-long cross-border corridor, connecting Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district with Durbar Sahib gurdwara in Kartarpur, a year ago to allow Indian pilgrims to visit the shrine without a visa.
India has yet to decide to reopen its part of the corridor, which was closed in March as part of Covid-19-related travel restrictions, following Pakistan’s recent decision to open its side.
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