Explained: The Dance Party At Kartarpur Gurudwara, And The Row Surrounding It

The Kartarpur Gurudwara in Pakistan's Punjab is at the centre of a controversy after a Pakistan state agency entrusted with the management of the Kartarpur corridor allegedly organised a party there with live music, dance and non-vegetarian food on offer. Some reports claim that the event was held at a distance from the gurudwara and not inside the premises of the shrine.

Posting a series of images and videos from the alleged event on X, BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa called for action against the CEO of Project Management Unit, Kartarpur Corridor, Sayed Abu Bakar Qureshi, accusing him of defiling the Sikh shrine.

“I strongly condemn the sacrilegious incident involving meat consumption within the sacred premises of Gurudwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib. It’s particularly disheartening that the Kartarpur Gurdwara committee administration was involved in this,” Sirsa wrote on X.

“Urgently calling @GovtofPakistan for thorough & swift action against all responsible people," Sirsa added, tagging the government of Pakistan in his post.

Sirsa also named some of party attendees in his post. "Profound dismay as Sayed Abu Bakar Qureshi, CEO PMU Kartarpur Corridor, organizes a non-vegetarian party in Gurdwara Shri Darbar Sahib complex which was attended by 80 people including Mohammad Sharukh, Deputy Commissioner Narowal, District Police Officer Narowal also," the BJP leader wrote, adding that the Sikh community worldwide felt "betrayed by this disrespect to the sacred site where Guru Nanak Dev ji took his last breath".

"The faith of minorities should not be continually undermined by the government of Pakistan," the former president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) said, demanding "swift accountability and action" from Islamabad.

Calling the incident "shameful", SGPC member Gurcharan Singh Grewal and former Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh called for action against the culprits to prevent a repeat of the incident in the future.

The Kartarpur Corridor is a visa-free religious cross-border corridor, connecting Pakistan's Gurdwara Darbar Sahib near Lahore to India's Gurudwara Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district.

First proposed in 1999 by the then prime ministers of the two countries, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif, the foundation stone of the corridor was laid in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and built a year later on the 550th anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak on November 12.

The 4.1 km corridor has significantly reduced the travel time for Indian pilgrims, who earlier had to undertake a 125 km journey first to Lahore and then to Kartarpur.