Kartarpur town, corridor
Contents |
As in 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
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.
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.
PART B/ AFTER 1947
The agreement of 2019
Yudhvir Rana, Oct 25, 2019: The Times of India
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
The corridor
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
