In news– Ahead of Parkash Purb of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the Government of India has decided to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib corridor.
About Kartarpur(peace) corridor–
- The 4-km-long corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab‘s Gurdaspur district.
- It is the place where the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak is believed to have spent the last 18 years of his life.
- It allows Sikh pilgrims to travel visa-free to the Kartarpur gurdwara via the Attari-Wagah border.
- It was inaugurated on November 9, 2019 to mark the 550th “Parkash Guruparab (birth anniversary)” of Guru Nanak.
- India had signed an agreement with Pakistan on October 24, 2019 on the modalities for operationalization of the Kartarpur Corridor at Zero Point, International Boundary, Dera Baba Nanak.
- The proposal for the special corridor was first pitched back in 1999 by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his then Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur/ Kartapur Sahib–
- It is a gurdwara in Kartarpur, located in Shakargarh, Narowal District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
- Guru Nanak ji founded Kartarpur in 1504 CE on the right bank of the Ravi River and established the first Sikh commune there.
- Following his death in 1539, Hindus and Muslims both claimed him as their own and raised mausoleums in his memory with a common wall between them.
- The changing course of the Ravi River eventually washed away the mausoleums.
- A new habitation was formed, representing the present-day Dera Baba Nanak on the left bank of the Ravi river.
- Guru Nanak, settled and assembled the Sikh community here after his missionary travels and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539.
- Here, he gave the three principles of Kirat Karo, Naam Japo, Wand Chako, which means work hard for a livelihood, keep remembering the God and share your bounties with the world.
- It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib.
Source: Hindustan Times
