Pakistan on Thursday categorically rejected the baseless and fallacious propaganda by the Indian government against the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, which has been rejected by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) itself.
“The malicious propaganda by the Indian government was simply an attempt to malign the ‘Peace Corridor’ initiative by casting mischievous aspersions against the interests of the Sikh community and to detract attention from India’s own reprehensible human rights violations of minorities in India,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “The PSGPC remains responsible for carrying out rituals in Gurdwara Sahiban, including Kartarpur as per Sikh Rehat Maryada. The Project Management Unit (PMU) under the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has simply been created to facilitate the PSGPC in this regard,” it added.
“Any insinuations regarding transferring the affairs of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur from the PSGPC to the PMU were not only contrary to the facts but also aimed at creating religious disharmony by the Hindutva-driven BJP government in India,” the statement said. “The Sikh community from all over the world remains greatly appreciative of the efforts made by Pakistan to complete the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Project in record time and for the excellent arrangements made to facilitate the pilgrims,” it went on to say. “India would be well advised to take steps to protect its minorities and their places of worship, rather than feigning misleading and sham concerns for the rights of minorities elsewhere,” the statement added.
Earlier in the day, India Today reported that Pakistan had transferred the management and maintenance of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from the PSGPC – the representative body of Sikh Pakistanis – to a ‘non-Sikh body’.
