India’s Ministry of External Affairs criticised Pakistan government’s move to transfer the management of the Gurudwara Kartapur Sahib to a non-Sikh body, saying it only exposes Prime Minister Imran Khan’s “tall claims of preserving and protecting the rights and welfare of the religious minorities communities”.
On 3 November, Pakistan government issued a notification for the formation of the Project Management Unit Kartarpur Corridor. This is a self-financing body created for the management of Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur and under the administrative control of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). This board has nine members, none of them Sikhs, The Indian Express reported.
In a statement issued on 5 November on Twitter, the official spokesperson of the MEA tweeted their response.
The statement reads: We have seen reports about Pakistan transferring the management and maintenance of the Holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib away from the Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC), a body run by the minority Sikh community, to the administrative control of the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a non-Sikh body.
This unilateral decision by Pakistan is highly condemnable and runs against the spirit of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor as also 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. Such actions only expose the reality of the Pakistani government and its leadership’s tall claims of preserving and protecting the rights and welfare of the minority communities. Pakistan is called upon to reverse its arbitrary deicsion to deprive the Sikh minority community its right to manage affairs of the Holy Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.
PTI also reported how India described Pakistan government’s decision as "highly condemnable".
Shiromani Akali Dal Badal spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema criticised Pakistan government’s move on 4 November. According to The Indian Express, he said, “SAD condemns and demands reversal of Pakistan’s decision to take full control of Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from PSGPC and hand it over to a new government body with not even a single Sikh member on it. This is a grave attack on fundamental rights of the Sikh minority in Pakistan.”
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