In what yet again exposes the false claims, hypocrisy and double speak of Pakistan, India Today has reported that officials have stated that the Pakistan government has “surreptitiously usurped” lands belonging to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara. It has been usurped in the garb of developing a corridor for the convenience of pilgrims.

Pakistan which has been constantly claiming that it wants to extend the olive branch towards India has now shamelessly encroached lands belonging to the Sikh shrine. This is highly insensitive towards the sentiments of the Sikh devotees. The Indian delegation, which attended the first India-Pakistan meeting in order to finalise the modalities for the proposed Kartarpur Sahib corridor linking Gurdaspur in Punjab to the Sikh shrine in Kartarpur, strongly objected to the “rampant encroachment” on the lands belonging to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara.

A government official who attended the meeting, said, “Pakistan has lived up to its old reputation of making false promises, making tall claims and delivering nothing. Its double-speak on the Kartarpur Sahib corridor has been exposed in the first meeting itself at Attari on Thursday.” He also said, “Lands owned by the gurdwara have been surreptitiously usurped by the government of Pakistan in the name of developing the corridor. A strident demand was made by India for restoration of these lands to the holy gurdwara urgently, keeping in view the strong sentiments on the issue within India.”

What also shows that Pakistan is not serious about the corridor at all is the fact that the terrorist country wanted to restrict the duration of Kartarpur agreement to just two years. Pakistan wanted to do so despite the fact of India making it clear that it is executing long-lasting and comprehensive facilities at the border by spending Rs. 190 crores.

The official said, “Against the hype created by the Pakistan government and the Pakistan media, its actual offer during the talks turned out to be farcical and mere tokenism. There is a sea of difference between what Pakistan, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, had announced, and in what they offered at Attari meeting. Clearly, Pakistan is not interested in providing Indian pilgrims easy access to Kartarpur Sahib.”

Pakistan has actually destroyed every basic feature of the corridor. Despite assuring visa-free travel to the shrine, Pakistan has brought in the requirement of special permits for the pilgrims and that to at a fee. Moreover, Pakistan has also restricted the corridor to only Indian passport holders and a large number of Overseas Citizens of India card holder devotees stand excluded. Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikhism, who had spent the final years of his life at Kartapur Sahib, holds universal appeal, including among the Indian Diaspora. However, Pakistan has imposed conditions which have almost destroyed the significance and purpose of the corridor.

This also exposes those elements within India who had praised the Pakistan PM Imran Khan for this “peace initiative”. It has now become clear that there was no peace initiative. Pakistan was only trying to create hype around the corridor and claim that it was now interested in improving its acrimonious relations with India. However, the above-stated report clearly proves that Pakistan had only made false claims. It has gone back on its word in utter disregard of the sentiments of the Sikh community.