Jagtar Singh
Chandigarh: The historic Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, although
not expected to redefine tense relationship between India and Pakistan, seems
to have fallen victim to planned sabotage in the beginning itself.
Otherwise one of the most significant events in
international relations that have been compared with the fall of the Berlin
Wall, has failed to take off going by very small number of visitors.
The 4-km long Kartarpur Sahib Corridor connects the
Kartarpur Sahib shrine, where Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh Faith, spent
his last a little more than 17 years of his life and demonstrated his model of
creation of ideal society and ideal man, with Dera Baba Nanak in India. At another
level, this corridor reconnects the Sikhs in Indian Punjab to the Pakistani Punjab
that is the land of their birth that got divided by the Radcliffe line in 1947.
Pakistan had initially planned the corridor for 700 devotees but upgraded it to handle 5000
visitors daily on insistence from India. The number of visitors has not crossed
even 1000.
There are too many hurdles, some of which are not even part
of the agreement signed between the two countries.
The entry fee charged by Pakistan is $20 that comes to about
Rs 1440 per person. The political class in India including the government
attacked the fee as ‘Jaziya’, a penal tax that used to be imposed by the
Mughals in India at one stage on non-Muslims. The most vocal among those who
raked up this ‘Jaziya tax’ were Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Union
Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Akali Dal. Rather they
have been competing on this issue.
But this has to be seen in the context of maintaining this
huge infrastructure created by Pakistan.
Why can’t the Punjab government and the Shiromani Gurdwara
Parbandhak Committee join hands to provide subsidy to the devotees from the
weaker? After all, the money is mainly to be spent on the upkeep of the
Kartarpur Sahib shrine that has been renovated as the biggest gurdwara complex
in the world and the corridor?
The other aspect is the requirement of passport. Pakistan
had allowed this relaxation for two days but India insisted that this was not
possible and the corridor has to function within the framework of the
agreement.
Here is yet another dimension. The visitor has to apply 12
days in advance. The application is then verified by the police.
It may be mentioned that passport is issued only after
police verification. Then why should this another verification be needed? This
procedure has been detailed by India. Can’t the government trust its citizen
who has been issued passport?
One can visit Thailand, Hong Kong and several other countries
without applying in advance and visa is on arrival. Why can’t a devotee be
issued permit on the spot on similar pattern? Hassle free entry to Nepal should
be yet another example.
The spirt behind the Sikh demand was to have unhindered
access to Kartarpur Sahib and that purpose stands defeated. Or has that spirit been
sabotaged?
A section of the media in Delhi and Capt Amarinder Singh has
consistently been raising the spectre of ISI design at the root of the
corridor. But then it is the Government of India that has entered into
agreement with Pakistan for the construction of this fortified access. The foundation
stone of the corridor was laid on Indian side by Vice-president M Venkahiah
Naidu and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. No one is in a better
position to understand the intentions of Pakistan than the Prime Minister.
The cumbersome procedure laid down by India must be done
away with by providing entry permit on the spot as there is no rush. If a
country can provide visa on arrival, why stringent conditions be attached with
this corridor?
And the Punjab government and the SGPC should share subsidy
for devotees from the specified weaker sections.
The corridor must be saved from conspiratorial sabotage.
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