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)
The Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur is
claimed to be the largest Gurudwara in the world. It is one of the holiest
sites in Sikhism because it is the final resting place of Guru Nanakji. Alongside the Golden temple in Amritsar
and Gurudwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib, it is one of Sikhism's
holiest shrines. Guru Nanakji founded the Kartarpur town on the banks of Ravi
River in 1504, ploughing the fields and setting up a community kitchen
popularly called 'Langar'. This community meal, known as Guru ka Langar, began
in Kartarpur and ultimately became an important aspect of the Sikh tradition.
He assembled a Sikh community after his missionary travels and established the
Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in 1522. He lived there for 18 years until his
death on 22nd September 1539.
Death of Guru Nanakji is also a mystery. It is
said that the body of Guru Nanakji was claimed by both Sikhs and Muslims for
the final rituals after death. When the white cloth on body of Guru Nanakji was
lifted, the dead body had disappeared. Therefore, the white cloth was divided
into two equal pieces and the final rituals were done separately by both
communities. These two places of final rituals are just adjacent in the main
Gurudwara Darbara Sahib.
At this place, Guru Nanakji gave the three
principles of 'Kirat Karo, Naam Japo and Wand Chako', which means
work hard for a livelihood, keep remembering the God and share your bounties
with the world.
Gurudwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib falls in district
Narowal of Pakistan. It is about 4.5 k.m. from the international border near
the historic town of India namely Dera Baba Nanak which is in Gurdaspur
district of Punjab, India. Gurudwara Dera Baba Nanak of India is about 1
k.m. from the Indo-Pakistan border and is on the east bank of Ravi River. This
small town is the last bus stand and last railway station of
India. In short, the place you need to reach is Dera Baba Nanak.
Kartarpur Corridor is a religious Corridor
allowing a visa-free border crossing for pilgrims from India. It
connects the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur
in Pakistan to Gurudwara Dera Baba Nanak in India. Indian
pilgrims enter the corridor after passing through check-in formalities and return
on the same day before evening. However, Sikhs of Pakistani Nationality are
unable to use the corridor for border crossing and cannot access Dera Baba
Nanak without first obtaining an Indian visa.
During the partition of India in 1947, this region
got divided across India and Pakistan. As per the boundary fixed by the
Radcliffe Award, the right bank of the Ravi river, including Kartarpur,
went to Pakistan, and the left bank of Ravi River having Gurdaspur
district to India.
Dera Baba Nanak is at distance of 45 km from
Amritsar by NH354B, at a distance
of 24 km from Batala by District Road, at a distance of 30 km from Gurdaspur by NH354 and
at a distance of 112 km from Jalandhar via
Batala.
For many years following the partition, Indian
Sikhs could visit Kartarpur informally (similar to what happens at Bangladesh
border) by crossing the Jassar bridge on the Ravi river. The border controls
between the two countries were not strictly enforced until 1965 war in which
the bridge was destroyed.
Thereafter, Sikh and Sindhi pilgrims from India
had to obtain a Visa and travel to Lahore by bus to get to Kartarpur. It
was 125 kilometres journey. Those who were unable to go to Pakistan, could see
Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur from the Indian side through powerful
binoculars on an elevated observation platform specially constructed for this
purpose.
The Kartarpur Corridor issue was discussed for the
first time in early 1999 between the Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Bihari
Vajpayee and of Pakistan Mr. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The Gurudwara of Kartarpur had remained shut from
1947 to 2000 as it was not included in 1974 protocol agreed between India
and Pakistan for visits to religious shrines between the two countries. In fact,
its surrounding land was used for cattle feeding. Since 2003, however, the
Pakistani government has reportedly taken initiatives for the upkeep of Sikh
religious shrines. Pakistan renovated the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara, and made
it available for viewing from the Indian border.
The tensions arising from the Kargil War had destroyed
India–Pakistan relations. An idea of "peace corridor" connecting
shrines on both sides of the border was again destroyed by the 2008 Mumbai
attack. However, in August 2010, the NRI Sikhs from USA submitted a report
titled "Kartarpur Marg".
In August 2018, the then Indian Punjab tourism
minister Navjot Singh Sidhu attended the Pakistani Prime
Minister Imran Khan's inaugural ceremony. He was promised by the
Pakistan Army chief Bajwa of Pakistan's willingness to open Kartarpur
Gurudwara for Indian pilgrims through a corridor on Guru Nanak's
550th birth anniversary. Given the clear time frame, this meeting set the
ball rolling.
It has thus taken two decades to materialize the
proposal. The foundation stone was laid down on the Indian side by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on 26 November 2018. He compared the corridor
to the fall of the Berlin wall in November 1989. He said
that the project could help in easing the tensions between the
two countries. Two days later, foundation was laid down on Pakistani side
by PM Imran Khan and said "Pakistan is not only opening the border but
also their hearts for the Sikh community".
Over 400 acres of land was acquired by the
Pakistani Government to renovate and establish the main complex and its
surrounding areas. The main complex has been expanded 10 times from its
original 4 acres to 42 acres.
With this historical background in mind, we had travelled by road from Amritsar early in the morning and reached our destination by 9.15 A.M.
I am taking a break here. In the next blog, I will describe the essential formalities, do's and don’ts and my experience of visiting this corridor.
- Dr. Bharatkumar Bhate, Rajkot
bcbhate@gmail.com