About:
Dr. Bharatkumar Bhate is M.S. General Surgeon (Gold Medalist) by qualification with an experience of 30,000+ operations and is based at Rajkot, Gujarat. He is an avid reader and a passionate writer. In this blog, he shares his travel experiences and creative writings.
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Blog:
(visited in March 2023)
I had applied for the permission for entry into Kartarpur Corridor, Pakistan well in advance on Indian government website i.e. https://rakashpurb550.mha.govin/kpr/. My police verification was done at a nearby police station in Rajkot. They checked my passport, original Aadhar card, Voter card, COVID vaccination certificate and asked for my latest electric bill for residence proof. Also, any individual who knows the applicant personally (not a relative though) is required to be physically present with his original Aadhar card to confirm the applicant’s identity.Few forms were filled up and our signature was taken by police. It was also checked whether any criminal court case is pending against the applicant. To my surprise, a second police verification by C.I.D. department was also done. It was a separate verification by Ministry of Home Affairs. Ultimately the Commissioner of Police sent our verification report to the Government. We were issued the permission to enter Kartarpur Corridor by an issuance of ETA (Electronic Travel Authorisation) few days before our declared journey date 14 March 2023. It was communicated to us on our registered e-mail address and by SMS on our registered mobile number. From the link in this message, we had to download the ETA for submission at Kartarpur Corridor.
Few important points worth noting here are:
(1) The permission (ETA) is valid for the specified day only and
the date cannot be changed.
(2) The permission is issued by Government for not more than 500
people per day. Even a new born child needs a separate ETA.
(3) There is no provision for on-the-spot permission.
(4) If you have visited Kartarpur once, you cannot go again for the
next 15 days.
(5) A recent COVID RT-PCR report done 72 hours before entry is to
be submitted at the entry point. On the spot RT-PCR facility is available at
Govt. Hospital of Dera Baba Nanak.
(6) India is free of Polio while Pakistan is not. So, our health department has arranged for polio drops for everyone before entry to Corridor. Your ETA is stamped after giving you polio drops.
The website of Indian Government has described many DO’s & DON'T’s which one has to understand and follow rigidly. They are printed on the ETA also. Afterall, you are going from your home country to another country.
Remember to keep this stamped hard copy of the ETA safe as you need to deposit it once you return to India from corridor.
You get a feel of international airport when you enter the Indian side of Immigration Clearance Centre. Surprisingly, tea and coffee of best quality and taste is served here for FREE. A large car parking is also available at Indian Immigration Clearance centre.
Guru Nanakji was doing farming at Kartarpur and feeding pilgrims at a community kitchen (Langar). The Government has therefore placed a large size statue of a farmer and another statue in which three people are being served with food by Nanakji, at the entrance of Kartarpur Corridor.
Original documents verified by police are sometimes verified here also. However, only the passport and the ETA is mostly verified. Hand luggage weighing upto 7kg is allowed to be taken. The luggage is checked through scanner as well as by opening the bags and purses. I have seen people carrying groceries too and it was allowed by authorities without any fuss. Plastic bags are prohibited.
Thorough physical check-up including finger print scan and photography is done. Passport is checked physically and compared with online data. Thereafter, you are allowed to cross the border using an electric 4-wheeler. Golf cars are waiting to ferry you to the border.
Here I advise all senior citizens above 65 to get their fresh fingerprint marks uploaded in Aadhaar portal before coming here. Sometimes, the old fingerprints do not match due to ageing and hence you may face difficulty. Iris checkup facility is not available here.
I carried 20 USD each for entry fee to Kartarpur corridor. They do not accept card and you need to pay in cash only. They insist for the exact amount. The currency is exchanged at a nearby counter by Central Bank of Pakistan. You can have a maximum of 11,000 INR with you to carry inside (2023).
After paying the fee of $20 each, your baggage will be screened again at the Pakistan side of this corridor, and documents and passport are verified. After which you can proceed to the Gurudwara in a bus.
IMPORTANT: Let me tell you, it is a visa-free corridor and so no one will put any stamp on your passport. Stamping is done on ETA document only. The Passport is just for security and ID purposes.
There is no need to exchange Pakistani Rupees because INR is accepted everywhere. All the stores in the market within this campus are accepting INR, so there is no need of exchanging currency at its counter.
Almost half of your planned visiting time will go in the checks at both sides. You feel disappointed by this procedural delay, but all of it goes away as soon as you look at the Gurudwara which is so beautiful and amazing. My excitement had no bounds as I was in the campus of Kartarpur Gurudwara! It was wonderful. It is mesmerising and full of spiritual experience. This huge campus was much bigger than my expectations.
Once you cross over and enter Pakistan, you are greeted by Pakistani Jawans saying “Humare Mulq mein aapka swagat hai.”
As soon as I entered on the land of Pakistan, I experienced mixed feelings. My mother was born at Hyderabad of Pakistan and married to my father at Karachi. Both families were very rich. My grandfather and my father were multi-millionaire at Karachi before partition. It amounts to hundreds of crores rupees today. But they had to leave everything there and struggle hard in India. My maternal grandfather was still richer but died in India in a very miserable condition.
However, I pushed aside these bad negative feelings of partition and started thinking otherwise. I started feeling happy thinking that I have an opportunity to touch the holy Earth where Shri Guru Nanak Dev ji lived.
Once you reach the entrance of campus, you will be briefed by the authorities and then you are free to explore the place on your own. Good facilities are available for depositing footwear, luggage and for drinking water. Arrows and indicators are placed everywhere.
It is recommended to take bath before proceeding to Gurudwara for darshan if you have not taken morning bath. Nice separate arrangement is made for ladies and gentlemen in a so called 'Holy Sarovar'.
The Gurudwara is a central building surrounded by a large corridor. White marble is fit nicely between the corridor and the Gurudwara. Walking on strips of carpet lead you to Gurudwara. The marble was cooler than the carpet in March.
The present Kartarpur shrine was rebuilt in 1925 after the original one was destroyed by floods on two occasions. Raja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, grandfather of Punjab Ex. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, contributed Rs.1,35,000 to the reconstruction. It was repaired by the Government of Pakistan in 1995, and fully restored in 2004 at a significant cost. In May 2017, the US based NGO "EcoSikh" proposed establishment of a 100-acre "sacred forest" around the shrine. The Gurudwara was further expanded in November 2018 with the construction of a new courtyard, museum, library, dormitories, and locker rooms spread across an area of 42 acres (17 hectares). There is a well which is 500 years old and believed to have been built during the lifetime of Guru Nanak Dev.
The ground floor of Gurudwara has a holy place where last rituals of Nanak Dev was done by Sikh community. Just outside the Gurudwara and near the well is a place where same was done by Muslim community.
As you climb to the first floor, you find a holy Granth Sahib placed at the centre and Gurubani is continuously sung. It is a worth watching phenomena. The pilgrims sit here for some time and listen to the Gurubani. Further climbing to the top floor is not allowed.
After paying a visit to the shrine of Baba Guru Nanak, the pilgrims, of both countries can go to the nearby lookout point at the Passenger Terminal. You can see the India-Pakistan Border Fence, Pakistan’s Passenger Terminal, and there is a Gurudwara offering langar.
We had taken Prasad at Langar. It is a nice clean hall where pilgrims sit on the floor and eat food. Chairs are available for the elderly. Food is served by volunteers. You are required to collect your dishes and clean the same after your lunch. Food quality is excellent. A large roti, sabji, dal, sweet as well as masala rice is served. Tea is also served in a steel glass along with the food. Food is prepared in clean kitchen by the volunteers. You can put your donation in their charity box.
Behind the Gurudwara building is a shopping area where a food, sweets, clothes, and memento are sold. An ATM is available but people told me that the Indian cards do not work.
I was advised in advance not to shop anything from the shops located inside the corridor premises. I do not want to comment on this issue. Souvenir shops were pathetic, they need to put some decent stuff. Still people purchase something for their immortal memory.
People from Pakistan enter campus by a separate route but ultimately all people gather at the Gurudwara. You can interact freely with Pakistanis. It was a nice pleasant experience. I made a conscious effort to use words like Salaam–Alaikum instead of Namaste, Shukriya instead of Thank you and Janaab instead of Sir.
We met the Pakistani brothers & sisters and did not feel any jealousy and hate attitude towards each other. They greeted us with great affection and love. We really felt the blessings of Guru Nanak Ji.
One more thing surprised me. Despite of economic crisis, Pakistan has employed plenty of dedicated staff, including security personnel, which costs them heavily. The Pakistani government wants to attract more pilgrims and has requested Indian Government to increase quota of visitors. Also, they have decided to celebrate Spring Festival every year.
There is one big question mark about this Corridor. The agreement between two countries is valid for a period of five years and either of the two countries can terminate it by giving a notice of one month. There are lot of things yet to be done and right now Pakistani government has come in financial crises. The terrorist activities are also unpredictable. Future of this Corridor is uncertain. I therefore suggest my Indian friends to undertake visit to Kartarpur Corridor as early as possible. Fortunately, COVID is under control in India.
One good news to future tourists is that Airtel works well within corridor. Internet connectivity of our Vodafone-Idea phone was poor. However, one most important instruction to tourist is ‘DO NOT GIVE YOUR MOBILE NUMBER TO ANY PAKISTANI CITIZEN. If you receive a call from Pakistan, you will be under surveillance.’
From the bottom of my heart, I think the Ex-Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan deserves an applause for this initiative. The entire facility was built for the Indian pilgrims. The huge task was finished within just 10 months and must say that they have done an amazing work. The whole process is seamless and you get the utmost care, attention, and affection. Our overall experience was very nice.
At the end, I can say for those of us for whom the Partition is
still a worst reality, this Kartarpur Corridor was healing in a small way and
in the right direction....
- Dr. Bharatkumar Bhate, Rajkot
bcbhate@gmail.com