The Indian External Affairs Ministry has summoned the Pakistani charge d'affaires in protest over Islamabad's recent decision to transfer the management of the holy Sikh shrine Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab from a Sikh body to a government one, ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said on Friday
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2020) The Indian External Affairs Ministry has summoned the Pakistani charge d'affaires in protest over Islamabad's recent decision to transfer the management of the holy Sikh shrine Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in the Pakistani province of Punjab from a Sikh body to a government one, ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said on Friday.
Earlier this week, Pakistan took away the management of the Sikh religious shrine from the Sikh community and gave it to the non-Sikh Evacuee Trust Property board that was set up to manage the properties left behind when Sikhs and Hindus based in Pakistan moved into India following the partition of the British Raj in 1947.
"Today evening, the Charge d'Affairs of the Pakistan High Commission was summoned and our strong protest was conveyed. It was also conveyed to him that this unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as ... 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," Srivastava said at a briefing.
The ministry also called on Pakistan to reverse its "arbitrary decision" to deprive the Sikh minority community of its right to manage affairs of the holy Sikh shrine, the spokesman added.
Kartarpur Sahib is one of the sacred Sikh pilgrimage sites in Pakistan, which was open to Indian devotees on November 9, 2019, despite political tensions between the countries.
