Facing googlies over his friendship with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday once again silenced his critics by scoring another point over his rivals with the neighbouring country agreeing to the Congress’ firebrand leader’s proposal for preserving the land around Kartarpur Sahib corridor.
Two months after Sidhu had written a letter to his “friend” Imran Khan urging him to “preserve” the agriculture fields where Sikhs’ first master, Guru Nanak Dev, used to till “in the same sanctity”, the Pakistan Government has announced that there would be “no tampering with the fields of Guru Nanak Dev” during the construction of corridor for Kartarpur Sahib.
Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhary, following the meeting to review the progress on Kartarpur corridor construction work held on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Imran Khan, informed about the decision saying that the Sidhu’s demand has been accepted.
“The Government will not construct buildings on a piece of 30 acres land which was used by Baba Guru Nanak for cultivation, out of his respect. The request for keeping this area preserved was made by former Indian cricketer and politician Navjot Singh Sidhu in a letter to Government of Pakistan,” Chaudhary quoted as saying in the Pak newspapers.
Sidhu’s letter, he had written on January 20 to Pak Prime Minister, was reportedly discussed during the meeting.
In a historic decision, India and Pakistan agreed to open up a special border crossing linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur — the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district.
Kartarpur Sahib is located in Pakistan’s Narowal district across the Ravi river about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, the first Gurdwara, was established by Guru Nanak Dev in 1522, where he is said to have died.
The corridor would facilitate visit of pilgrims to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from the Indian side. The authorities of both the countries are currently holding meetings and working out the modalities.
Sidhu, in his letter, had requested that the “old pristine landscape and terrain of the area should not be disfigured in the name of commercialization and tourist comforts”.
“In 104 acres of land, walking trails could be developed for people to walk along fields once tilled by Baba Nanak and now preserved in the same sanctity,” he demanded in the letter.
Sidhu had come out with concrete suggestions for preserving the “past” in and around the corridor to Pakistan, suggesting a pathway to Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara with artefacts abetting it.
Sidhu, writing separate letters to the Prime Ministers of both India Narendra Modi and Pakistan Imran Khan, opined against constructing of concrete structures on both sides at Kartarpur Sahib and Dera Baba Nanak, while allowing “only foot movement” through the corridor with exemption only for elderly, disabled or sick devotees.
Suggesting to regulate pilgrims’ movement, Sidhu underlined, “We must move primarily on foot with an exception only for elderly, disabled or sick, along with providing accessible amenities such as toilets. Personal transport should be eschewed at all costs. In 104 acres of land, walking trails could be developed for people to walk along fields once tilled by Baba Nanak and now preserved in the same sanctity.”
Giving a slew of suggestions in his letters “to preserve the sanctity of Kartarpur Sahib and Dera Baba Nanak Gurudwara Sahib”, Sidhu urged that the religious sites of Sikhs’ first master Guru Nanak Dev should be declared as “Heritage Villages”.
Punjab Minister suggested that the local lands should be used for organic cultivation of food crops to be served in the langar (community kitchen) to the devotees in both the Gurdwaras.
he also suggested to encourage local and traditional artefacts by allowing them for sale in the local bazars around the area. “We can turn away from any form of shopping complexes that sell fast food or utilise plastic wares and we can welcome folk art and the music of Rabbi’s and folklorists,” he suggested.
Pointing that “Baba Nanak's corridor opens the way to a sacred pilgrimage and we have a duty to devote ourselves to its future as well as its past”, Sidhu insisted upon both the heads of the states that “we must plan and carefully execute waste disposal. Garbage from the use of plastic bags, bottles, styrofoam and packaged foods has no place”.
Sidhu’s letters had come after the US businessmen Jasdeep Singh Jassi had visited Nankana Sahib in Pakistan and announced to develop religious tourism in Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur Sahib by way of constructing hotels and raising other tourism infrastructure.
“Sustainable use of water from the well that Baba Nanak may have used and keeping the land covered by forest intact will serve as a symbol for the world, in rightful agricultural practices and living in oneness with mother nature,” he added.
He added that the new facilities for religious tourists should not interfere with current aesthetics, and must be eco-friendly; their architecture aligned to Guru period, located outside and at a considerable distance from current premises.
Notably, Pakistan’s Punjab Assembly member and Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Momina Waheed from Sialkot had also submitted a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding ‘no construction zone’ around the Sikh shrine.
