Kartarpur Corridor pushes India to the brink

Ajay Bhardwaj

A new chapter has been added to the Sikh history with the opening of the Kartarpur corridor. An often-cited prayer of the Sikhs, to reunite them with the pilgrim spots separated from them in the wake of the Partition, has been answered, and it is a moment of joy and fulfillment for every Punjabi and every Sikh. Pilgrims can now pay obeisance daily at the Dardar Sahib Gurdwara in Kartarpur (Pakistan) where Guru Nanak Dev ji spent his last 18 years before passing away.

While a large number of Sikhs are overjoyed with the development, for the national security reasons it would always be a cause of worry for India – how the Kartarpur Gurdwara is used for surreptitious purposes by Pakistan. India would, for sure, like that the Sikh sentiments are respected and upheld, but if in the garb of it the Pakistan ISI pursues its subversive agenda India would really be on tenterhooks. One hopes though that the corridor would help resolving Indo-Pak relations, the fact that the corridor has been planned by the Pakistan Army cannot be overlooked.

While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan for respecting the sentiments of the Sikhs in India, Imran Khan, in turn, raked up the Kashmir issue at the inauguration of the historic Kartarpur corridor and urged India to end all restrictions in the Valley imposed after New Delhi scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.

“What we are witnessing in Kashmir today, it is not a territorial issue anymore. It has escalated to a humanitarian crisis. Unfortunately, things have gotten even worse for the people of Kashmir who are treated like animals, deprived of their basic human rights and besieged by a presence of 9 lakh soldiers,” Khan said.

At a time when the entire Sikh community, across the world, was thrilled and feeling blessed at the opening of the corridor, Imran Khan’s statement demonstrated adequately how Pakistan would be viewing the opening of the corridor.

Right from day one when Pakistan Army Chief, Gen Bajwa, whispered in the ears of senior Congress leader Navjot Sidhu that Pakistan would soon be opening the corridor for the Sikhs in India for the Kartarpur Gurdwara, there have been serious apprehensions about the intent.

And, quite significantly, it happened before Imran Khan was sworn-in as the prime minister in that function.

Soon, Pakistan made a formal announcement to that effect. Diplomatically, it was a masterstroke played by Pakistan to which India had no other way than to accept. Gen Bajwa’s game plan whispered in the ears of Navjot Sidhu, became a new statement between the Indo-Pak relations because Pakistan took the initiative to announce for the Kartarpur corridor, something that India had been demanding for long.

India knew that with prime minister Imran Khan in the forefront, the agenda was being designed and dictated by the Pakistan Army. Yet, it could not do anything about it since the sentiments of the Sikhs were involved.

Senior security officials are wary that Pakistan would be using this opportunity to incite the radicals against India. They point out how in the past the Kartarpur Gurdwara, which was a deserted place till recently, was, in fact, a hideout for the terrorists.

Almost a dozen top terrorists including Ranjit Singh Neeta of the Khalistan Zindabad Force and Wadhwa Singh of the Khalistan Commando Force are enjoying shelter in Pakistan. Harmeet Singh PhD, who was till recently following his academic pursuits in Amritsar, is the latest one to join the militants sheltered by Pakistan.

As the talks about the Kartarpur corridor have been going on between India and Pakistan, the ISI-sponsored attempts to push in arms and ammunition across the border were starkly disturbing. The use of drones for this purpose has lent an alarming dimension to the security challenge on the border.

Last month, Khalistani and Islamic terrorist groups sent three consignments of 16 assault rifles and 9 hand grenades along with satellite phones to India in a span of about two weeks.

The arms and ammunition came in three consignments, which were sent by Khalistani terror group bosses, including Khalistan Zindabad Force chief Ranjeet Singh Neeta and Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF) chief Harmeet Singh Ph.D. The latest consignment, seized by the police on September 24, was sent by KLF chief Harmeet Singh Ph.D. It included five AK 47 rifles, 10 magazines, and 200 cartridges.

These weapons were recovered from the Mumdot area of Firozpur Cantonment. However, the arrests, in this case, were made on Tuesday after a brief encounter in Jandiala. The weapons were found wrapped in a Pakistani newspaper attributing the origin of the ammunition

Police sources say weapons were meant to be delivered to gangsters Sukhpreet Singh Satta and Sukhda Khariwal, who were in contact with Harmeet Singh PhD. Earlier on September 22, the police recovered five AK 47 rifles with 16 magazines and 472 rounds, four Chinese-made point 30 bore pistols with eight magazines and 72 rounds, nine hand grenades, five satellite phones, two mobile phones and two wireless sets besides counterfeit currency of Rs 10 lakh from the possession of four Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF) terrorists, including Balwant Singh alias Nihang, Akashdeep Singh alias Akash Randhawa, Harbhajan Singh and Balveer Singh.

The police arrested the three from Chohla Sahib area in Tarn Taran. This was the second consignment of weapons sent from Pakistan

The first consignment of illegal weapons, including Four AK 56 Rifles, two AK 47 rifles 180 rounds, six magazines, and 11000 bullets were seized from a truck at Lakhanpur, Kathua on September 12.

With intelligence inputs suggesting that terror elements are active in Narowal district of Pakistan, where Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is situated, the Centre is contemplating inserting a column in an application form for pilgrims to declare that their visit through the newly built corridor “will not be detrimental to India’s sovereignty”

Sources said the column would be inserted in the form, which the pilgrims have to fill before applying for permission to visit Kartarpur Gurdwara through the corridor. “Concerns have been raised by security and intelligence agencies that elements in Pakistan may try to misuse the corridor by propagating anti-India narrative among visiting pilgrims,” said a senior official.

A few days ahead of the inauguration of the Kartarpur corridor on November 9, intelligence agencies had alerted that “Jihadi elements” were spotted hiding on the other side of the border, which was very close to the Dera Baba Nanak shrine on the Indian side.

There are about a dozen training camps running in the Kartarpur region where the Sikh radicals are indoctrinated, say top police officials.Top militants like Ranjit Singh Neeta, Wadhava Singh, Sukhdev Singh Babbar are still camping in Pakistan.

More seriously, it would be Sikh radicals coming from other parts of the world who would find a place in Pakistan to inflame radical feelings, much to the discomfort of India.A lot remains at stake for the Kartarpur Corridor, and India and Pakistan will have to work to ensure no border skirmishes impact pilgrim movement.

Senior BJP leader Subramanium Swamy, MP, had always been opposing the corridor for the cause of national security. He said the Sikhs should understand the nuances of it. “We respect the Sikh sentiments no less. But the kind of past Pakistan has, it would be very uncomfortable for India in days to come”, he added.

He said India must not forget that the entire agenda of the Kartarpur corridor had been designed by the Pakistan Army, not by the Pakistan popular government led by Imran Khan.

Has India been diplomatically driven to the wall in this exercise by Pakistan? would always remain a moot question.

(The author is a senior Punjab based Journalist)

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