new Delhi: Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Friday rejected remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that questioned the partition and location of the revered Kartarpur Darbar Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan.
It termed Amit Shah’s statement as inappropriate and unnecessary, news agency PTI reported.
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In a statement, the Foreign Office noted that Pakistan reiterated its serious concern over the BJP leadership’s growing tendency to drag Pakistan into its domestic affairs.
“Pakistan categorically rejects the inappropriate and unnecessary remarks made by Indian Home Minister Amit Shah during a recent event questioning the partition and location of Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan,” the statement said.
The Foreign Office has written that it is extremely regrettable that the distortion of historical facts has become the hallmark of the BJP government as well as its ideological source RSS.
Pakistan’s response comes after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday expressed satisfaction over the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor in 2019, which claimed that there was an “error” in the space that India exited during Partition.
“When partition happened, there was an error. It (Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara) is just 6 km away (from the border with Pakistan). I don’t know how it was abandoned. There may be some loopholes. Probably not. Somebody did Saw it (at that time),” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
The Union Home Minister said, “Some regret happened during the Gurparv. But the Kartarpur corridor has given people an opportunity to visit the temple and have darshan. People are grateful to the authority for this and appreciate it.”
Sri Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur, Narowal district of Pakistan.
In its statement, the Foreign Office mentioned that it was Pakistan that realized the idea of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur Corridor and completed the project in record time as a gift to the Sikh community in India and around the world.
The Kartarpur Corridor connects Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, where Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak Dev lived and died in the early 16th century, to the Dera Baba Nanak Temple in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. The 4 km long corridor provides visa-free access to Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.
In November 2019, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan formally inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in a colorful ceremony, allowing Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit one of their religion’s holiest sites in Pakistan. The way was paved. without visa.
(with agency input)