MEA summons Pak diplomat over transfer of management of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib to non-Sikh body
Nov 06, 2020
New Delhi [India], November 6 : The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday summoned a diplomat of Pakistan High Commission over the transfer of management and maintenance of Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib to a non-Sikh body.
The move came a day after India condemned Pakistan's unilateral decision to transfer the management and maintenance of the Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib away from the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee (PSGPC), a body run by the minority Sikh Community, to the administrative control of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body.
The MEA had called upon Pakistan to reverse its arbitrary decision to deprive the Sikh minority community it's right to manage affairs of the Holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.
"The unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as also the religious sentiments of the Sikh community at large. We have received representations from the Sikh community expressing grave concern at this decision by Pakistan targeting the rights of the minority Sikh community in Pakistan," the ministry had said.
"Such actions only expose the reality of the Pakistani government and its leadership's tall claims of preserving and protecting the rights and welfare of the religious minority communities," the ministry added.
The move by Pakistan came days ahead of the first anniversary of the inauguration of the historic Kartarpur Corridor on November 9. The four-km long corridor links Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur in India to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan.