Chandigarh, Oct 27 Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday urged the Centre to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor and ensure regular, hassle-free access for the Sikh Sangat to pay obeisance at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.
Emphasising that matters of faith must remain above political considerations, he said the spiritual aspirations of devotees must be respected and religious devotion should never become a casualty of petty politics.
Participating in a discussion on a resolution seeking to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor, Mann said matters of faith should not become victims of narrow political considerations.
“The spiritual aspirations of the people must be respected. There should be no room for petty politics when it comes to religious devotion.
“The Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor should be reopened so that devotees can fulfil their spiritual aspirations without hindrance,” Mann said.
Later, when asked about receiving an invitation to attend the World Punjabi Conference in Pakistan next month, Mann said he will have to seek political clearance from the Centre if a formal invitation is received, adding that he will apply for the same.
“People of both the countries want peace. Relations should improve (between the two nations),” Mann said, while speaking to reporters outside the House.
Earlier, Education Minister Harjot Bains moved the resolution in the Punjab Assembly on the last day of the House session here.
He urged the Centre to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor and asserted that the passage is a matter of religious freedom and human kinship for lakhs of ‘Sikh Sangat’.
The Union government must take immediate steps to reopen the corridor and keep it operational, simplify visit procedures and engage with the Pakistan government to ensure safe, hassle-free and uninterrupted movement of ‘Sangat’ to Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, the resolution read.
Bains said, “Sri Kartarpur Sahib is the cradle of the principles of ‘Kirat Karo, Naam Japo te Vand Chhako’. The corridor is not just a passage; it is a bridge that reconnects the Sikh Sangat with the soil where our Guru Sahib walked.”
Guru Nanak Dev spent an important phase of his life at Sri Kartarpur Sahib and gave humanity the message of equality, service, brotherhood and ‘Sarbat da Bhala’, he said.
The corridor represents the aspirations of lakhs of devotees and the pain of families separated by the 1947 Partition, he said.
Guru Sahib’s message transcends religion, community and country. His ‘Bani’ shows humanity the path of love, harmony, tolerance and peace. Keeping Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor open is thus a matter of religious freedom, human kinship and respect for Punjab’s shared heritage, he said.
Bains called for sustained and sincere efforts to keep the corridor open as a living symbol of faith, peace and people-to-people connectivity, and shared heritage that transcends borders.
He said the restrictions and interruptions in movement through the corridor hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community worldwide and deprived devotees of ‘darshan’.
The resolution urged the Centre to simplify procedures for devotees, especially the elderly and infirm, to enable maximum devotees to visit the holy shrine, he added.
The Kartarpur corridor, which facilitates devotees to pay obeisance at the historic gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, has remained shut since May 7 last year, when the Indian armed forces carried out pre-dawn missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
(PTI News)
