Sikhs plan shrine in Pakistan
More evidence that as Kashmir starts gearing up for winter, relations between India and Pakistan are thawing faster than anyone expected. The latter is becoming more open to championing its non-Islamic cultural heritage and allowing more open displays by other religions. The BBC reports:
An Indian Sikh religious committee plans to build a seminary and a pilgrim centre in the Pakistani township of Nankana Sahib. The town is the birthplace of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev. A Sikh shrine already exists there.
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The pilgrim centre planned at Nankana Sahib is aimed at facilitating the journey of thousands of Indian Sikhs who visit the shrine of Guru Nanak Dev every year.The SGPC’s initiatives, announced days ahead of the 15 November anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev’s birth, are significant. If approved, this will be the first SGPC venture aimed at spreading its religious activities into Pakistan.
There are actually a lot of Sikh Gurudwaras in Pakistan, they’re just not that well looked after. Wikipedia has more history on Nankana Sahib, but it’s apparently disputed.
This not long after the news that Pakistan is also nominating the famous Katasraj temple in Pakistan Punjab for a World Heritage status.
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Filed in: Religion, South Asia
Phew, about time too.
Hey do you know that one of the earlist Gurdwaras was built in Dhaka (now Bangladesh) in 1662 to commemorate the visit by Guru Nanak? I visited it earlier this year when I was there.
http://allaboutsikhs.com/gurudwaras/bangla-nanakshdacca.htm
Wow, im from there and i didn’t know that.
Interesting.
Excellent news. It would be also useful if maybe Sikhs could come from India or train people within Pakistan in order to maintain their shrines in the correct religous manner.
Positive news. The shrine may become a target for protests by the small number who subscribe to this fragmented world we live in, but I hope the project overcomes those adversities.
Pakistan could make a lot of money from Sikh and Hindu tourists to Punjab and Sindh and the Indus Valley civilisation sites if it got its act together – alot of money. Remember, Lahore is just sixty kilometres or so from Amritsar.