Jamshedpur, Aug. 29 : A day after Punjab Vidhan Sabha unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union Government to take up the issue of opening of Kartarpur Sahib corridor during the 550th birthday celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev with Pakistan, members of Sikh community from the city also raised a similar demand on Wednesday.
A delegation led by Inderjeet Singh, newly appointed member of Takht Patna Sahib met deputy commissioner Amit Kumar and handed a memorandum addressed to PM Narendra Modi. Talking to the media here, Singh said that the opening of the corridor would enable millions of Indian devotees to pay obeisance at the historic gurudwara.
�The Sikh community is very much aware that this is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan to make a corridor giving access to Kartapur Sahib. We have gathered to raise our demand that the Government of India take initiative to provide access to the gurdwara,� he said. Singh, who is also the former president of Central GurudwaraPrabandhakCommittee said that the move will also pave way for strengthening relations between the two nations.
The Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara, where the first Sikh Guru spent the last years of his life, is located a couple of kms in Pakistan across the international border.
Sikh leader Satbir Singh Somu, who was a part of the delegation, said that the opening of the corridor was a cherished dream of the Sikh community. If the Government takes initiative in this regard.
He said the 550th birth anniversary of the first Guru, who breathed his last in Kartarpur, is being observed in November 2019 and one of the demands of the Sikh community has been to have access to the revered Gurdwara Sahib in Kartarpur.
The issue of Kartarpur Sahib has come up recently following the Pakistan visit of Punjab Cabinet Minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu, to attend the swearing- in ceremony of the new Prime Minister, Imran Khan, on August 18.