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Kartarpur Sahib Pakistan: Welcome in unadulterated Punjabi with a broad smile




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Chandigarh
The design is perfect.
Cross the zero line at Kartarpur Sahib Corridor to enter Pakistan and the welcome is with a broad smile and in flawless Punjabi.
The difference between India and Pakistan is too glaring.
At the entrance itself on the Indian side, the visitor, devotee in this case, is thoroughly frisked as if boarding a flight. This exercise is carried out at two places.
The immigration officials talk in Hindi with no smile on the face.
As the devotees cross the Zero line that separates Indian side of the Corridor from the Pakistan territory, the security people extend a warm welcome and speak in unadulterated Punjabi. And they don’t frisk you.
This writer asked Pakistanis at two points, “At which point would you search me?”
The answer, “You are in Pakistan. We don’t search the devotees”.
The security exercise is repeated on the Indian side on return.
When asked, a police official on the Indian side from Punjab said this was being done to check smuggling of drugs from Pakistan. But then why frisk people while going to Pakistan? This exercise makes the devotees suspicious.
Construction work is still going on on the Indian side while it is complete on the Pakistani side barring some small parches. The main part of the corridor including bridge over river Ravi is in Pakistan.
Is Pakistan more efficient than India?
The main structure at the Kartarpur Sahib shrine has been well designed but for one flaw that seems to have been copied from gurdwaras in Indian Punjab. The entire floor has been tiled and it might heat up during summer. One positive aspect is that Pakistan has not created a marble monster. It may be mentioned that the original gurdwara architecture has been destroyed in Indian Punjab with marble structures having replaced even the historical buildings, except the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple. But the originality of the Golden Temple too has been damaged.
The original shrine has been preserved as it is.
It is a different experience once you enter the shrine complex.
Pakistanis- men and women- in large numbers from Sialkot and Lahore visit the shrine and they just mob you. The kids surround you as they want to know as to how the Indians look like. The people talk of love and not hate or politics. The shrine reflects the philosophy of universal brotherhood preached by Baba Nanak.
Kartarpur Sahib is the place where Baba Nanak, the founder of the Sikh Faith, spent his last more than 17 years and gave practical shape to his model of ideal society and ideal human being. It is this spirit that prevails.
Pakistan is developing Kartarpur Sahib as the biggest gurdwara complex in the world while maintaining its ambience.
The shrine needs trained Sikh staff but then it is a problem there. It is for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to extend help by working out some arrangement with Pakistan.
It may be mentioned that the Sikh families in Nankana Sahib, the birth place of Baba Nanak, had shifted to India in 1947. When the Nankana Sahib shrine was reopened years later, SGPC chief Gurcharan Singh Tohra suggested to Pakistan to settle some Sikh families from Peshawar side there to carry out religious duties and make the shrine functional.
The maintenance cost is huge going by the manpower deployed by Pakistan. The $20 fee that Pakistan charges meets only a fraction of the maintenance and running cost.
Indian leaders like Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had been attacking the fee as Jajiya, a sort of penal tax. Chinese buses ferry devotees from entry point to the shrine. It is not the fee that is the issue but passport. India should take up with Pakistan to allow entry without passport.
As the vehicle starts on Pakaistani side, the devotees raise the Jaikara- Bole So Nihal.
It is a different experience altogether. Of course,  the Sikhs experience similar hospitality in Lahore but here what makes the difference is the ambience that emits positivity, love and brotherhood.
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The application has some flaws. The status mentioned is married or unmarried. What about those who are divorced. Single needs to be added.
The confirmation for December 8 visit was received just three days in advance, not even four that was specified. This should be increased to six days.
The passport is issued is issued after police verification. Why verification against for visiting Kartarpur Sahib Corridor?
Lastly, the devotees of all ages are administered polio drops by India. This is not done while crossing over to Pakistan from Attari-Wagha border. This should stop.

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