Bajwa moots exchange of Kartarpur shrine territory with Pak

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday proposed that the Kartarpur Sahib shrine situated across the Ravi in Pakistan, opposite Dera Baba Nanak of Gurdaspur district, should be exchanged with an Indian territory.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday proposed that the Kartarpur Sahib shrine situated across the Ravi in Pakistan, opposite Dera Baba Nanak of Gurdaspur district, should be exchanged with an Indian territory. He stated that Sikh devotees had been longing for free access to this shrine where Guru Nanak spent his last years.

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Presently, the devotees pay obeisance to the shrine from this side of the river, where a special platform has been erected.

He said the devotees had been demanding free access to the shrine through a corridor so that they did not have to go through visa formalities. The PPCC chief said he had taken up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May 2012 and suggested that this territory be exchanged with an Indian territory which is across the Ravi in the same sector.