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Kartarpur Corridor: Divided Sikh homeland to get reconnected on November 9



Jagtar Singh
Despite vociferous opposition from  the media in Delhi, the historical blunder that was  the Radcliffe Line  that divided the land of the Sikhs  on August 15, 1947 would partly be undone when the Kartarpur Sahib corridor gets operationalised on November 9. This is the most significant development with global ramification in this year of 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of the Sikh Faith.
Nankana Sahib where Guru Nanak was born and Kartarpur Sahib where he spent his last seventeen years are both in Pakistan. It was at Kartarpur Sahib that he gave practical shape to his socio-economic model of egalitarianism, brotherhood and shared labor.  The Sikhs in their daily prayer have been seeking free access to the shrine in Pakistan.
A major section of the media in Delhi persistently opposed the proposal  and attacked it as corridor of terror. Similar reservation had also been expressed by some members of the political class. The political leaders cutting across the party lines till the last day of signing of agreement between the two countries attacked Pakistan for levying fee of $20 although the common Sikhs did not oppose it.
The move was initiated after Pakistan conveyed its acceptance of the demand of the Sikhs through then local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu at the swearing in ceremony of his friend Imran Khan as the Prime Minister. What provoked the Indian media more was the way he hugged Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa after he broke the news to him. That picture went viral and Sidhu was dubbed as anti-national.
The first move to have direct access to Kartarpur Sahib located four kms from Dera Baba Nanak was initiated in 2001 by senior Akali leader Kuldip Singh Wadala who is no more. Subsequently, arrangement was made on the bank of Ravi to have a view of the gurdwara across the river and that spot later came to be known as Darshan Asthan. The issue was taken up formally with Pakistan years later. Prayer has been held every month since 2001 at Darshan Asthan without a break.
The credit for this historic development should go to Wadala and Sidhu.
India had viewed the Pakistan move to construct the corridor whose major portion is in that country as part of the strategic push to play the Sikh card.  Pakistan has been harbouring Sikh militants for years.
Significantly, it is some of the militant leaders who initially took care of the Kartarpur shrine around 1995 as it became a victim of the Radcliffe line. India just could not counter this  subtle move.
This corridor is only one way, only for devotees going to the shrine and not vice versa.
Punjab shares about 450 km of border with Pakistan which has many soft points for the people from the two sides to cross over and this underworld traffic has never stopped.
The people in two Punjabs aspire to mingle freely  as the region share the same culture. It is  restoring people-to-people interaction  stopped some years back that could go a long way in easing the tension between the two warring neighbours.
The continuing tension benefits only the US war industry.
The Maharashtra and Haryana elections have made it clear that the BJP can’t play this card any more.
Let the Kartarpur Sahib corridor act as a bridge of peace between the two countries.
That would be the best tribute to Guru Nanak.

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