NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: India has slammed Pakistan for its decision to transfer the management of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara to a body with no Sikhs representative in it, saying it hurts the religious sentiments of the community.
“We have seen reports about Pakistan transferring the management and maintenance of the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib away from the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee, a body run by the minority Sikh community, to the administrative control of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body.
“The unilateral decision of Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as also the religious sentiments of the Sikh community at large,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement. The statement said India had received representations from the Sikh community expressing serious concern over the Pakistan government decision.
The MEA statement called for Pakistan to reverse its arbitrary decision to deprive the Sikh minority community of its right to manage affairs of the holy Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib. “Such actions only expose the reality of the Pakistani government and its leadership’s tall claims of preserving and protecting the rights and welfare of the religious minority communities,” the statement added.
Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is the final resting place of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev, who spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur. Meanwhile, sources said the ETPB has formed a nine-member committee to look after the affairs and management of the gurdwara besides implementing the Project Business Plan. These officials include Muhammad Tariq Khan, who has been posted as chief executive officer, and Abdullah Awais, appointed as Deputy Secretary.