Demystifier: An ED Original where we take a complex topic but the content is written in such a way that it is knowledgeable and easy to comprehend at the same time.
With Imran Khan laying the foundation stone for the corridor of peace between Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur and India’s border district of Gurdaspur recently, there have been mixed feelings of hope and hate regarding the relationship between India and Pakistan.
Liberalizing the visa regime while establishing corridors for people-to-people contact is a positive step towards resolving the deteriorating relation that existed between the two countries.
The Backstory Behind The Construction Of The Kartarpur Corridor
Baba Guru Nanak found a commune comprising his followers in Kartarpur where a Gurudwara was built in his place of death on September 22nd, 1539. The two sites- Dera Baba Nanak and Kartarpur Sahib are 6kms far from each other but they are separated by an international border between India and Pakistan which marks strict security and a mutual breakdown of trust.
The first proposal regarding the opening of Kartarpur corridor was discussed between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1998. Although the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supported this plan, relations between India and Pakistan became tense during the Pervez Musharaff era due to which the plan was eliminated.
However, after Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf came into power with Imran Khan being sworn in as the Prime Minister, the Kartarpur corridor plan saw its fruition by November 2019 sending waves of joy among the Sikh community in India and Pakistan.
The task of constructing the corridor was given to the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) for completing the master project just in time to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
Mixed Reactions of Pakistan Trying Too Hard To Suggest Peace Or Planning A New Terror Attack
But media has been twisting the agenda behind this peace initiative by taking potshots at politicians supporting this initiative blaming them to be complicit in Pakistan fomenting terrorism in India.
The false sense of propaganda stirring the political sentiments, especially that of Navjot Singh Sidhu being supported by Imran Khan in his endeavor to gain political advantage in the coming elections, has been doing the rounds lately.
The Kartarpur corridor being compared to the fall of the Berlin wall is important for every political party. But what we are missing behind such social and political discussions is the groundbreaking sentiment special for Punjabis who have suffered enough through the trauma of Partition.
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The Partition massacres that forced the migration of 17 million people witnessing rape and mutilation of ordinary women and men respectively in the plains of Punjab left a bleeding wound before they left the country forever.
Given the history of strained relationships, Sikhs are being bashed for supporting Pakistan while disregarding their pain of partition which led them to lose their ancestral lands and heritage.
Hours after Pakistan’s PM delivered a speech stressing on new beginnings to forgetting the past, Pakistan’s new army chief Qamer Javed Bajwa was seen fraternizing with the Khalistan leader, Gopal Singh Chawla.
With army maintaining a stranglehold over the event, people are hinting at a joint collaboration of Khalistan rebels along with Jaish-e-Mohammad and Jammat-ud-Dawa in hacking a diabolical plan to attack India.
Some Media Outlet Even Suggested That The Clearance Of Journalists By The Pakistan High Commision For The Event Was Biased
As far as the reports brought into light by @Op_India goes, the original list of proposed Indian journalists had names that couldn’t pass the test by the Pakistan High Commission.
Although this just looks like an insidious attempt to find any excuse intended to vilify the image of Pakistan as a country incapable of extending friendly relations, there is no denial of the extent media outlets are willing to go to prove that Pakistan cannot go beyond tactical maneuvers by hinting on speculations about a possible break-through.
Pakistan is not ready to abandon its sponsorship of terrorism against India despite comprehensive dialogues to eschew terrorism but is this the time to let these negative faces hijack the religious sentiments of the Sikhs who can rethink of healing their wounds by getting a chance to visit their historical relics peacefully?
Sources: The Print, NDTV, Opindia
Image Credits: Google Images
Reach the blogger at: @dhar_aatreyee
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The whole article was bit contradictory……For Sikhs going to Karatarpur is as Imran Khan said for Muslim going to Holy Medina…..period. Rather than accepting this as a divine blessing, Hindus seem unable to to feel what Sikhs are feeling…perhaps unlike muslims Hindus do not visit the resting place of their religion’s founder !!!