Cabinet minister S.S. Randhawa, MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, offers 11,000 acres of land in exchange for the part on which the Kartarpur Sahib gurudwara stands.
Chandigarh: The Punjab legislative assembly has unanimously passed a resolution seeking swapping of land with Pakistan to bring the historic Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib into Indian territory.
Punjab will now take up this demand with the government of India, offering over 11,000 acres of land in exchange for the part on which Kartarpur Sahib stands, on the banks of the Ravi.
Punjab Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, the MLA from Dera Baba Nanak, offered land from his constituency for the purpose. Dera Baba Nanak stands opposite the gurudwara on the Indian side, and is the place from where the Kartarpur Corridor is to be constructed.
The gurudwara is built at the place where Guru Nank, the founder of the Sikh religion, spent the last 18 years of his life. It falls in Narowal district of Pakistani Punjab.
Also read: Kartarpur Corridor may become a harbinger of peace for India & Pakistan, say residents
CM moves resolution
On the second and last day of the winter session of the assembly, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh moved a resolution appreciating the efforts put in by the governments of India and Punjab for the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor. The resolution to swap land with Pakistan was added following a discussion, after the demand was put forth by Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president and former deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal.
While appreciating the opening of the corridor, Amarinder reiterated his warning to the Pakistan Army to stop terror activities in Punjab and India. He said he would be the first one to visit the gurdwara through the corridor, provided Pakistan ensured that peace was not compromised on this side of the border.
Reading out from an article written in a national English daily, the chief minister said defence experts too were echoing his words over the opening of the corridor.
“It is a project of the Pakistan Army, not that of Imran Khan (prime minister of Pakistan). Imran Khan was well-intentioned, but the Pakistan Army is not, and we should not fall prey to their sinister designs,” he said.
Not many takers for CM’s misgivings
Amarinder’s stand on the issue was not wholeheartedly appreciated even by his own MLAs. Randhawa thanked him for the resolution but did not repeat his misgivings, while Raj Kumar Verka said peace and love was the only way forward for the two countries, and it was important that India gave peace a chance, and a genuine effort was made.
Another Congress MLA, Harminder Singh Gill, said the misgivings about the corridor reviving terrorism in Punjab were ill-founded. He went on to thank the chief minister as also the Modi government for agreeing to the opening of the corridor.
The opposition also asked the CM to shed his “negativity” over the issue. Badal said the opening of the corridor was a historic step, and everyone who had a role to play should be thanked and their efforts appreciated.
He said “negativity” should be avoided, as it might lead to the project being shelved. He said terror has no religion and even at places where there are no corridors connecting nations, terror acts take place.
“It is a historic development and the government of Punjab should actively collaborate with the government of India to develop the corridor and Kartarpur town,” he said.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said the move to exchange land would undo the historic blunder that happened while British were dividing India.
“Also, land-swapping will take care of the misgivings put forth by Captain Amarinder Singh,” he said.
Also read: By not visiting Kartarpur, is Punjab CM hurting Sikh sentiment or being hyper-nationalist?
Opposition bouquets for Navjot Sidhu
Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is singularly credited with taking up the corridor issue with Pakistan in the first place, kept quiet during the discussion on the resolution. However, a host of MLAs — both from the Congress and the opposition — appreciated his efforts.
Akali MLA Gurpratap Singh Wadala said that “everyone who was responsible for making the corridor a reality should be thanked, and that includes Navjot Singh Sidhu”.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan, while thanking Sidhu, asked the CM to shed the confrontationist approach and work towards getting the two nations to live in peace.
Another AAP MLA, Kanwar Sandhu, pointed out to Amarinder that when he was the chief minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007, several incidents of terror took place, and yet, he organised friendly games between the two Punjabs.
“If anything, the terror activities have reduced since,” he said, also appreciating the role played by Sidhu.
Kartarpur was always a part of India and not the so called Pakistan. Why do we even need to request Pakistan to handover Kartapur. Its a religious place for the Sikh brothers and it is they who should decide on the faith of Kartarpur and not Pakistan
India raised a request to Pakistan to bring back Kartarpur that originally was part of India. Pakistan’s refusal to handover Kartarpur to India is a lesson to learn for we all Indians that territorial unity and integrity of a nation should never be compromised at any cost. The Muslim wanted Pakistan and the Congress readily agreed to divide the nation on religious lines, on the other hand Pakistan which originally belonged to India is not ready to transfer the religious place of the Sikh community.See the difference!!. Why did the Indian Government not take back Kartarpur during the 1971 war when Pakistan was badly defeated at the hands of the Indian army. It was a golden opportunity that our country missed.
Srinagar for Kartarpur ?????
Waise hi majority of Kashmiris living in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir want to be part of Pakistan … this would solve the Kashmir issue itself …
Jammu can stay with India as it has a large influence of Hindu pundits !
But for all the progress on Kartarpur … credit must only go to Sidhu Sb from Indian Punjab ! IK certainly made a strong move … hope it doesn’t compromise Pakistan’s security !
Idiot kashmiri pandit lives in Srinagar, Jammu has mostly Hindu Rajputs. Srinagar will only be given when whole of Pkistan is given back to India.
Exchange of lands is difficult even between best of friends like U.S & Canada…………Here India does not even talk to Pakistan, is not ready to discuss Kashmir dispute yet the CM is expecting this kind of favor………not very mature !!!!
… how edgy …
Recall how difficult it was to swap isolated pockets / enclaves between India and Bangladesh, a leftover from history. Given how edge relations are between India and Pakistan, not even an acre of land could be exchanged.