Sikh body appeals to Pak preserve land around Kartarpur

Amritsar: After American Sikh Council (ASC), the World Sikh Organization (WSO) of Canada has also expressed concern over the stripping of land around Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib, in Pakistan.

Stating that the sanctity and serenity of the Kartarpur village as Guru Nanak had envisioned and established was being damaged in the name of religious tourism, WSO president Mukhbir Singh said, “This is deeply saddening to Canadian Sikhs. We hope that the natural and traditional state of the gurdwara will be retained as opposed to making it a standard marble structure, similar to what we see in East Punjab.”

A delegation of ASC met the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar recently, to express its concern over the destruction of Sikh heritage in the name of new construction work in the fields which were once tilled by Guru Nanak Dev in Kartarpur Sahib. WSO has requested the Pakistan government to preserve the 104 acres of fields surrounding the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara.

Speaking to TOI, Mukhbir said that since the announcement of the Kartarpur corridor in November 2018, there has been substantial construction in the area, resulting in the stripping of land around the gurdwara in the name of religious tourism. “As of May 1, 2019, a construction work update shows the destruction of all fields and orchards and new construction for a water tank and residential buildings. Plans also include (building) commercial buildings such as hotels and parking lots on the land where Guru Nanak’s fields existed,” he said.

Some of the suggestions made by WSO to the Pakistan government include protection of flora and fauna, planning of any new construction at least a kilometer away from the current gurdwara complex, ending corridor road on the outskirts of the preserved fields and connecting the main gurdwara complex only with foot trails, introducing zero emission transport mechanism for the disabled and elderly and new facilities to be designed in line with the tradition of the period architecture.


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