Monthly Archives: August 2018

HT Correspondents

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

Sultanpur Lodhi : Nearly 10 lakh devotees visited the historic town of Sultanpur Lodhi on Tuesday to pay obeisance at historic Sikh shrines, particularly Gurdwara Ber Sahib, on the 550th birth anniversary of first Sikh master Guru Nanak.

Nearly 50 lakh pilgrims have visited the town, where the first guru is believed to have spent 14 years of his life, since November 1, the district administration officials said.

Sporting colourful turbans or pieces of cloth covering their heads, people of different age groups with a sense of devotion thronged the town which remained jam-packed throughout the day. The celebrations by the Punjab government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) officially culminated on Tuesday.

langar sites on last day

To mark the last day, special arrangements were made at various langar sites at on Tuesday with new dishes being added into the menu. Also, fast food being served at langars of Baba Nidhan Singh remained centres of attraction among the devotees.

At the langar of Baba Maan Singh Pehowa (Haryana), around 550 items, including 200 types of sweets, a variety of vegetables, ice-creams and soft drinks, were served. They also cut a cake weighing 550 kilogram.

Long queues were seen outside various exhibitions, especially the one organised by the Union ministry of information and broadcasting, based on Guru Nanak. In the evening, people were enthralled by a light-and-sound show on the Guru organised by the state government.

Thousands of devotees took a dip in the Kali Bein, the rivulet flowing through the middle of the town where Guru Nanak is believed to have attained enlightenment after taking a dip in it.

Jagdeep Kaur, a pilgrim from Gujarat, said it was like a dream come true to take a dip in the rivulet after decades as the government released several cusecs of water into it.fry

HT Correspondent

letterschd@hindustantimes.com

AMRITSAR  : Around 4 lakh devotees from across the world on Tuesday paid obeisance at the Golden Temple on the occasion of 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith.

“This year, the number of devotees has almost doubled than the last year’s Parkash Purb. Usually on the occasion, 2 to 3lakh people pay obeisance at the Goldent Temple. But since this year marks the 550th birth anniversary of the Guru, the figure has shot up to this scale,” said Jaswinder Singh Deenpur, manager of the Golden Temple.

In the evening, the shrine was splendidly lit up and fireworks were seen dancing across the sky, giving it a beautiful view. On the Golden Temple premises, Dhadi jathas were busy narrating glorious history of Guru Nanak.

Ramdas, who had come from the USA, said,“I am in the country on a North India trip. Yesterday, I came to know about the Parkash Purb celebrations. So I decided to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. I feel blessed.”

Kavita Kumari, 34, from New Delhi was in the holy city with his family. She said, “This is my first visit to the Golden Temple. I had heard about the Guru’s celebrations in Punjab, so we planned our visited accordingly. This was such an enriching experience. I will visit the city again.”

Sukhpreet Singh, 24, a resident of Mumbai said, “I along with my family members first visited Dera Baba Nanak. There we paid obeisance at the Gurdwara Darbar sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, through binoculars , then we paid our respect at the Golden Temple. We have been coming to the temple every year on the occasion of Parkash Purab.”

Imtiaz Ahmad

letters@hindustantimes.com

Islamabad : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Saturday used the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor to make a fresh pitch for peace with India, saying the two countries should make efforts to settle the Kashmir issue to usher in stability and progress in the region.

In a speech markedly different in tenor from his address at the UN General Assembly that had referred to the possibility of nuclear war over Kashmir, Khan offered the example of France and Germany living in peace after numerous wars, and said he hoped a similar peace could be achieved by India and Pakistan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who largely avoided mention of Pakistan in his speech while inaugurating the Indian section of the corridor in Gurdaspur, thanked Khan for “understanding, respecting and acting on India’s sentiments regarding the Corridor”.

PM Modi also thanked workers in Pakistan who completed the other section of the corridor.

Addressing a large gathering at Durbar Sahib gurdwara in Kartarpur that included former premier Manmohan Singh, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, Navjot Singh Sidhu and MP Sunny Deol, Khan said the situation in Kashmir had gone beyond a “territorial issue”.

“This is an issue of humanity, not of land…The rights promised by the UN have been taken away, and there will never be peace this way and because of this, all our relations have stopped,” he said, speaking in Urdu.

“If Prime Minister Modi is listening to me, I would like to say that justice leads to peace, injustice leads to lack of peace. Give justice to the people of Kashmir.”

Khan Cited the example of France and Germany, which were trading and allowing their citizens to move across their borders now. “In the same way, when Kashmir is settled and Kashmiris get their rights, there will be peace in the subcontinent and the region will progress. I pray that day is not far away,” he said.

The two sides inaugurated separate sections of the corridor that links Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur to Durbar Sahib gurdwara, built at the spot in Pakistan’s Kartarpur where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent the final years of his life.

The Indian side has acknowledged the Kartarpur Corridor’s potential to foster peace between the two sides but remains apprehensive about Pakistani elements leveraging the project to fan separatist sentiments in Indian Punjab.

Khan said he was happy to spend the day with Sikh pilgrims from around the world, comparing their joy to that experienced by Muslims making a pilgrimage to the holy city of Medina in Saudi Arabia.

Sutirtho Patranobis

spatranobis@htindustantimes.com

Beijing : China on Friday said it has never recognised the state of Arunachal Pradesh and opposes any visit to the region by Indian leaders, a statement that coincided with defence minister Rajnath Singh’s two-day visit to the region to review the security situation along the Sino-India border.

Beijing claims Arunachal Pradesh as part of the geographical territory of south Tibet, or the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), and routinely issues strong statements after Indian leaders visit the state, which has a long, mountainous border with China.

The Chinese foreign ministry’s reaction came on Friday even as Singh was touring the border areas, reviewing the situation and interacting with Indian army personnel.

“The Chinese government has never recognised the so-called Arunachal Pradesh and resolutely opposes the activities of Indian leaders and senior officials in the region,” foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said at the regular ministry briefing. “China urges the Indian side to respect China’s interests and concerns, stop taking any actions that complicate the border issue and take concrete actions to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas,” Geng said.

But Singh struck a cordial note. Despite differences in perception between India and China on the boundary issue, the armies of the two countries have been sensible enough to reduce tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), he said in Arunachal. “I congratulate the Indian Army for showing great maturity in all situations,” Singh tweeted.

“I have got the opportunity to interact with jawans here. I am very happy to be informed by my jawans that at this India-China border, which is LAC, we are working very sensibly and Chinese PLA (People’s Liberation Army) is also operating sensibly. There is no tension here at LAC that is near Bum La Pass,” he told reporters.

Singh inaugurated a 200-metre bridge on the Sisseri River connecting Pasighat and Roing in Arunachal Pradesh, which will reduce travel time between the two places by nearly five hours.

Earlier, he visited the memorial of Subedar Joginder Singh, a Param Vir Chakra awardee, who fought valiantly during the 1962 war with China before laying down his life at Bumla.