Dear Supporter, 

Ever since the Kartarpur Sahib corridor was announced, many Sikh organizations and community leaders have joined me in asking the Government of Pakistan to preserve the 104 acres of land that Baba Guru Nanak Ji himself farmed on. The Pakistan government has responded back in vague terms and varying numbers - 26 acres (in a letter to the American Sikh Council), 30 acres (announced by the then Information Minister Mr. Fawad Chaudhry on March 20th) and now 62 acres (July 17th announcement by Governor Chaudhry Sarwar). Which one is it? And why are they hesitating to allocate all of the 104 acres to farming and plan new construction outside the said fields?

As rightly pointed out in the news article, much more of this land already belonged to Guru Nanak and later to the Gurdwara, throughout history. What stood preserved for 500 years is now being buried under marble and stone for good. If you bury the 42 out of 104 acres in marbleized Gurdwara, facilities and accommodations for visitors, parking terminals, etc., how can that be considered preservation of the heritage fields and legacy of Baba Ji, that the Governor recently claimed?

We have been asking that all new constructions to be outside the 1 KM periphery i.e. outside the fields of Baba Nanak where he tilled the soil with his own hands; so there are chances to revive the lost artifacts and reconstruct Kartarpur the very way it was established by Guru Nanak. There are many examples in the modern history where thousands of years old cities were reconstructed using archeological and historical findings.

Instead of planning Kartarpur in a heritage-sensitive way, there are talks of starting construction of luxury hotels in Phase-II of the project. Does all this not reek of profiting in the name of religious tourism, at the cost of not only destroying history but more importantly, also jeopardizing future amity with the historically and spiritually aware Sikhs?

There is still time for the government to keep new construction to the minimum; and declare 104 acres outside of the Gurdwara as a construction-free zone.

Pakistan will earn a lot of respect and honour for preserving Kartarpur as an ecological haven that Baba Nanak envisioned it to be and will attract more tourism and goodwill by planning it to be a world class heritage site that it can showcase to the world rather than just another marble and stone Gurdwara surrounded by commercial facilities like hundreds of its counterparts in India.

Sincerely,

Gurmeet Kaur
http://chng.it/VPHMQnNZ5C

Please read my Letter to the Editor - Published in Dawn - August 8th 2019:  https://www.dawn.com/news/1498767/baba-nanaks-fields