A British Sikh Peer and Chair of the British Sikh Association in the UK, Lord Rami Ranger CBE is appealing to Imran Khan, the current Prime Minister of Pakistan to reconsider the Pakistan government’s decision to transfer the management and administrative control of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from a Sikh body, Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC), to a trust under the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body.
The change of administration hasn’t gone well with India and has been termed as “highly condemnable” and against the spirit of the Kartarpur Corridor. The Shiromani Akali Dal has termed Pakistan’s decision as “a grave attack on fundamental rights of Sikh minority in Pakistan.”
Amidst heightened tension over the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan last year, the two countries decided to open the corridor that links Dera Baba Sahib in Gurdaspur (India) with Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib (Pakistan).
The linking of the corridor was an initiative for the people by the people of the community because the place holds sacred value for Sikhs as this is the final resting place of their faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev, who spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur.
Lord Rami Ranger told Asian Voice, “I’m saddened by the decision taken by the government of Pakistan to take over the control of the management of the Sikh Gurdwaras throughout the country. As we all agree and understand, Gurdwaras like other places of worship are respected and adorned as ‘Houses of God’. They are central to our faith as are Mosques to Islam; there is no exception to the Sikh religion. The Gurdwara is held with the highest of reverence. Its management should be by the local Sikh communities. Removing this right not only hurts the sentiments of the Sikhs in Pakistan and across the world, but it also has direct repercussions by detrimentally affecting the confidence and trust of minorities, as their legitimate rights to manage their place of worship are stripped away from them, this is an abrogation of their fundamental human rights.
“I will appeal to the Honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan to reconsider his government’s decision and allow the public to manage their religious affairs according to their traditions.
“Diversity in a country must be accepted, respected and also celebrated as there is phenomenal strength in diversity. In all progressive countries, there are laws against discrimination of every kind. No country can progress whilst systematically discriminating against a section of her own population based on religion, race or gender.
“More importantly, it is never in the interest of any government to get involved in the religious affairs of her citizens as religious sentiments can be hurt inadvertently.
“As Pakistan is not a secular country where religious equality is enshrined in her constitution, this move has caused even more suspicion and mistrust in the minds of people against the government, which to the contrary has been doing a great deal for the Sikhs starting from the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor. Such ill-thought-out plans by the government of Pakistan will, unfortunately, detract from all the good it has done for the Sikh community.”
Lord Rami Ranger, a Sikh by birth, visited Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur Gurdwara with his wife in November 2019 along with other 176 delegates from the UK to celebrate Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary. Lord Ranger’s father, Sardar Nanak Singh, who was a freedom fighter, had given his life to unite the Hindus and Muslims during the 1947 partition.
The British Sikh Association signed a memorandum of understanding with Pakistan’s multinational company Hashoo Group in 2019 to develop infrastructure for the Kartarpur corridor.
The MoU was signed by Lord Rami Ranger, on behalf of the association, and Murtaza Haswani, deputy chairman of the Hashoo Group, at an event in parliament organised by Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi.
Satwant Singh, president PSGPC said, “The ETPB never makes any plan regarding gurdwaras without discussing with us. The PSGPC wants control over religious affairs and we have that. It has always been like that. Nothing has changed.”
Citing this move as “targeting of human rights”, the Ministry of External Affairs, India said, "This unilateral decision by 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."
Reacting to this statement, the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan issued a statement and said, "Pakistan categorically rejects the baseless and fallacious propaganda by the Indian government against the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor.”
President of Shiromani Akali Dal, Sukhbir Singh Badal also urged the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to take up this issue with Pakistan and ensure restoration of status quo."This is also against the "maryada" (code of conduct) associated with Sikh shrines," Badal added.
Meanwhile, according to the latest development, India has summoned a Pakistani diplomat over the Kartarpur issue. The Pakistan diplomat was seen arriving at South Block in Delhi after being summoned by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) over the said issue, news agency ANI reported.
The corridor was shut in March in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
