Kartarpur milestone

Against this background, the Kartarpur Corridor agreement is the only positive development. It came to fruition because both sides showed the good sense to delink it from the rest of the relationship. Of course, in so doing, both were driven by their own self-interests. With so many important Sikh shrines on its side, Pakistan believes it can forge a special relationship with the Sikh community and has done so pro-actively. India, on the other hand, cannot afford to be seen as lagging behind on this, given Punjab's complex post-Partition political history. The agreement is a boon to the Sikh community in India, who now have the opportunity, starting with the 550th birth year of Guru Nanak, to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, directly through a road from Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab to the shrine. It heals one of the wounds of Partition for the Sikh community. Much has been made over the US$20 fee that Pakistan will levy per pilgrim. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh went to the extent of calling this a jazia tax, invoking spectres of the medieval oppression of Sikhs by Mughals. This is playing to the gallery. The Indian claim that such charges are not in keeping with the religious-cultural ethos of the country is not even accurate. Big Indian temples charge worshippers for 'special darshans' or 'quick darshans', and pilgrims pay these fees without complaint. China levies charges on pilgrims visiting Lake Mansarovar and India has never objected, even when the fee was hiked a few years ago. Sensibly, India has dropped the demand that Pakistan not levy this charge. The amount is protected by the agreement, and any hike will have to be re-negotiated by the two governments. In some ways, the Kartarpur agreement is comparable to the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, which was negotiated and signed by the two countries despite the bad blood over Kashmir, though the World Bank played mediator. That, too, was a standalone agreement of its time, and has withstood the repeated shocks it has been subjected to by the bilateral ups and downs. Hopefully, the Kartarpur Agreement will remain as enduring as the IWT. It may be unrealistic to hope at this moment that this agreement will pave the way for a wider constructive engagement between the two countries, but what it shows is that the two sides are not entirely without the capability to do this. DailyhuntDisclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Dailyhunt. Publisher: The Indian Expresshttp://wiznotes.com/UserProfile/tabid/84/userId/292725/Default.aspx