Latest revision as of 12:12, 17 June 2021

[edit] As in 1908

Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.

[edit] Kartarpur

Town in the District and tahsil of Jullundur, Punjab, situated in 31 degree 26' N. and 75 degree 30' E., on the North-Western Railway and grand trunk road, 9 miles from Jullundur town. Population (1901), 10,840. Founded by Arjun, the fifth Sikh Guru, it is a place of great sanctity, as the seat of the line of Gurus descended from him, and as possessing his original Adi Granth or scripture. It was burnt by Ahmad Shah in 1756. Kartarpur is a flourishing grain mart, with a market outside octroi limits. Chairs, boxes, tables, and native flutes are made ; also cotton twill (susl). The cantonment established here after the first Sikh War was abolished in 1854. The municipality was created in 1867. The income during the ten years ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 7,500, and the expenditure Rs. 6,900. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 7,300, mainly from octroi; and the expenditure was Rs. 10,600. The town has an Anglo-vernacular middle school, maintained by the municipality, and a Government dispensary.

[edit] PART B/ AFTER 1947

[edit] The agreement of 2019

Yudhvir Rana, Oct 25, 2019: The Times of India

The 2019 rules for Indian pilgrims visiting Kartarpur.
From: Yudhvir Rana, Oct 25, 2019: The Times of India

Dera Baba Nanak: The four-page Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Agreement, signed between India and Pakistan, is valid for five years.

According to sources privy to the meeting, a joint working group would be constituted by both India and Pakistan to facilitate smooth implementation of the agreement, which can be amended, supplemented or modified by both the countries. The agreement can be extended with mutual consent of both India and Pakistan in writing.

“Either party (India or Pakistan) could terminate the agreement at any time by giving notice of one month to the other party of its intentions to terminate this agreement,” according to the agreement, which also said the pact could be suspended in case of exigency or persistent violation of its provisions.

India and Pakistan will designate nodal points either side of border to discuss day-to-day operations of the corridor and Border Security Force and Pakistan Rangers would deal with emergencies and exigencies, including medical evacuation of pilgrims.

BANNED ITEMS

Knives and blades, except kirpans

Wi-Fi and broadband devices

Liquor

Literature, media items, and objects, physical and digital, like flags and banners challenging territorial integrity of India and Pakistan or those which are potentially damaging to communal harmony

Satellite phone

Antiquities and art treasures

Wildlife items and products

Endangered species of plants and animals

Firearms and ammunition

Explosive substances

Narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances

[edit] The corridor

[edit] The Corridor: Chronology of events

Nov 9, 2019: The Hindu

Kartarpur Sahib Corridor
From: Nov 9, 2019: The Hindu

The following is the chronology of major events leading up to the opening of the landmark Kartarpur Sahib Corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district.

1522: The first Gurdwara, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, was established by the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev, where he is believed to have died.

February 1999: The Kartarpur Sahib corridor was proposed by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he took a bus ride to Lahore during a peace initiative with Pakistan.

2000: Pakistan agrees to allow Sikh pilgrims from India to visit the shrine visa-free (and without passport) by constructing a bridge from the India side of the border to the shrine.

2018

August 15: Punjab minister Navjot Sidhu attends Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony in Islamabad.

August 21: Upon his return from Islamabad, Sidhu says that Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa informed him that the Pakistan government would open the Dera Baba Nanak (Kartarpur) corridor on Guru Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary.

November 22: Indian Cabinet approves the Kartarpur corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the Pakistan border.

November 26: Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu lays the foundation stone of the Dera Baba Nanak — Kartarpur Sahib Corridor (up to the International Border) at an event at Mann village of Gurdaspur district of Punjab.

November 28: Prime Minister Imran Khan lays the foundation stone of the 4-km corridor on the Pakistan side.

December 3: Pakistan opens immigration centre at the Kartarpur border.

2019

March 14: The first meeting between officials of India and Pakistan on Kartarpur Corridor takes place in Attari on the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border.

March 19: India, Pakistan hold technical talks, discuss coordinates.

March 29: India conveys concerns to Pakistan over presence of Khalistani separatist on Kartarpur panel.

April 16: Experts and technicians from Pakistan and India hold technical meeting on Kartarpur corridor at Zero Point (Kartarpur).

May 27: India, Pakistan officials meet, discuss modalities for Kartarpur corridor.

July 8: Pakistan welcomes Indian media to attend 2nd meeting on Kartarpur corridor.

June 11: Pakistan allocates ₹100 crore in 2019-20 budget for Kartarpur corridor project.

July 14: Pakistan and India hold second round of the talks on the Kartarpur corridor in Wagah; India gives Pakistan dossier on possible attempts to disrupt Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage.

August 30: Technical talks between Pakistan and India takes place at Zero Point.

September 4: Third round of talks between officials from Pakistan and India on the Kartarpur corridor takes place at Attari.

October 20: Pakistan to open Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, says Prime Minister Imran Khan.

October 21: India express ‘disappointment’ over Pakistan’s $20 fee for Kartarpur Sahib but ready to ink pact.

October 24: India, Pakistan sign agreement to operationalise the Kartarpur Corridor.

October 30: Pakistan issues ₹50 commemorative coin to mark Guru Nanak’s 550th anniversary.

November 1: No need for passport for Sikh pilgrims from India visiting Kartarpur, says Pakistan Prime Minister Khan.

November 4: Sikh separatists, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, feature in Pakistan’s official video on Kartarpur; India conveys its strong objections to Pakistan.

November 5: Sikh pilgrims from India visit Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan, instal golden palanquin.

November 6: India asks Pakistan to clarify if passport will be required for Kartarpur visit amidst confusion over the issue.

November 7: Indian Sikh pilgrims will require passport to visit Kartarpur: Pakistan Army; India to stick to Kartarpur agreement on visits by Indian pilgrims.

November 8: Pakistan will not charge $20 as service fee from Indian pilgrims visiting the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara on November 9 and 12, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says, ending confusion over it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off the first batch of over 550 Indian pilgrims travelling to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Punjab province through the Kartarpur corridor. Prime Minister Modi inaugurates the Integrated Check Post where pilgrims will be cleared to travel through the newly-built corridor.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurates the Kartarpur Corridor on Pakistani side.

[edit] 2019, 20: politics

Yudhvir Rana , December 2, 2020: The Times of India

The around 4.5km-long passage, connecting Dera Baba Nanak India’s Gurdaspur district in Punjab and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib, in Pakistan’s Narowal district, was formally thrown open on November 9, 2019, three days ahead of 550th anniversary of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Dera Baba Nanak and flagged off the first batch of pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, while his Pak counterpart Imran Khan had inaugurated the other side of corridor. On the occasion, the Union government had also released a commemorative coin celebrating 550 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. Later SGPC had houred Modi with the Quami Seva Award.

While Pakistan used it as a political tool to not only appease the hardliner Sikhs against India but also to issue verbal threats to India, there was battle for credit over its opening among political parties on this side of the border. Pakistan’s blabbermouth politician and railway minister Sheik Rashid said the corridor was the brainchild of their army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and India would forever remember the kind of wound inflicted on it by him.

It was Bajwa who had told former cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu about Pakistan’s intentions of opening of corridor during 550 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. Sidhu had gone to Pakistan to attend the oath taking ceremony of his friend-turned-Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 18, 2018. Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had extended invitation to Congress’s leader and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attend the inaugural ceremony of Kartarpur corridor.

In India, the Congress, BJP and SAD were among the parties which began taking credit for the opening of Kartapur Corridor. However, they joined hands in opposing the $20 service fee on pilgrims and even termed it as ‘ jaziya’ (tax imposed on non-Muslims) despite there being no hue and cry over it by the common man. Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh even asked the SGPC to pay the fee from its resources.

In 2010, Punjab (India) assembly had passed a resolution asking the Centre to take necessary measures for building a corridor between Kartarpur Sahib and Dera Baba Nanak. A similar resolution as passed by the general house of SGPC. Various Sikh bodies had also been taking up the issue of opening corridor at various platforms and offering weekly ‘ardas’ at at Dera Baba Nanak.

The first Sikh master spent last 18 years of his life at Kartarpur village, which is located on the west bank of the Ravi. When he passed away, his Muslim followers wanted to bury him while the Hindus wanted a cremation. Legend has it that Baba Nanak’s body mysteriously disappeared and a pile of flowers was found which was equally divided by his Hindu and Muslim followers who performed funeral rites according to their customs. The Muslims made a grave while the Hindus raised a samadhi.

Pak forms PMU and shifts control

In November first week, the Pakistan government set up Project Management Unit (PMU) Kartarpur Corridor and took the management of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and Kartarpur Corridor from Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to hand it over to Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). The approval was given by the economic coordination committee of cabinet, ministry of religious affairs.

The PMU would be a self-financing body for the management and maintenance of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, under the administrative control of ETPB. In its first decision regarding PMU, the ETPB has appointed nine non-Sikh officials and staff members. When the action evoked sharp criticism in India, ETPB spokesperson Aamir Hashmi said PMU was established to look after the day to day running of affairs, including management, accounts and coordinate the efforts of all stakeholders.

Favourite with lovelorn couples, militants

The corridor also facilitated the meeting of lovelorn couples, after befriended over various social media platforms via texting and telephonic conversations. On November 11, 2020, Amritsar mason Jatinder Singh used the corridor to meet his girlfriend Asia Rafiq, a post graduate student of Punjab University , Lahore. On November 23 last year, Haryana girl Manjit Kaur crossed over as a pilgrim to meet her Facebook friend Awais Mukhtar. In both the cases, they were seen moving around in “suspicious circumstances” and sent back to India by Pakistan Rangers.

Such incidents have raised the eyebrows of security officials, who think Khalistani elements in India can go to Pakistan and meet the Sikh fugitives living there as well as their ISI handlers without any trail.

Fishy deals come to the fore

There is much discord within the Pakistan establishment over poor revenues generated from Indian pilgrims, who pay $20 service fee each for visiting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. If sources are to believed, Pakistan expected a minimum of $1,00,00 per day with a minimum of 5,000 devotees visiting daily. However, the pilgrims’ turnout was too thin. Instead, on an average, Pak could generate a revenue of around US$ 12,000 per day. Sources say Pakistan’s Public Account Committee (PAC) summoned the director general of Pakistan army’s Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) to furnish the expense records with the auditor general. FWO had constructed the Pakistan side of Kartarpur corridor. Sources revealed that FWO never shared the details. Khan’s austerity driven 2019-20 budget, he had earmarked Rs 100 crore in the federal budget 2019-20 for the development of Kartarpur corridor.

Darshan Sthal too demolished

The BSF had installed a pair of binocouars at darshan stahl constructed by Baba Gurcharan Singh Bedi Baba Jagdeep Singh Bedi Memorial Charitable Hospital in 2008 for a clear ‘darhsan’ of the gurdwara. The Land Port Authority of India was to construct a pucca darshan sthal with enough space to install 10 binoculars in the second phase of Kartarpur corridor, but the work is yet to start.

Cheap infrastructure

In a major embarrassment to Imran Khan’s government, eight domes of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib were blown away during a thunderstorm in April 2020, exposing its claims of spending huge money on the development of Kartarpur corridor. It was found that instead of concrete structure, the domes were made of fibreglass which was used to save the construction cost