Washington, DC/Islamabad – There was damage to the side domes at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, also called Kartarpur Sahib, according to reports from Pakistan.
Hamza Ameer, a senior journalist based in Islamabad, told IAT, “Due to the strong wind coupled with heavy rain showers in the Punjab province, at least two domes at Darbar Sahib Kartarpur fell off.”
Writing in his dispatch, Ameer noted, “Frontier Works Organization (FWO) has been assigned to ensure immediate renovation of the damaged domes. Official sources say the work will be completed within 48 hours.”
The action was initiated immediately, Ameer said – noting, “(Pakistani) Minister of Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said the matter has been addressed before the Religious Affairs Minister Noor Ul Haq Qadri with a request for immediate inquiry.”
The renovated domes show use of fiber instead of cement and iron, raising concerns over the quality of material used in the construction of the Kartarpur Corridor and the Gurdwara, the reports said.
Sikhs of America React
Reacting to the reports, Jasdip Singh Jesse of Sikhs of America here lambasted the media for misrepresenting the ground realities and cautioned “against sensationalizing a trivial issue over sensitive religious matters,” as is the trend in some sections of the media.
“It’s wrong to blame the Pakistani government as fiber domes are a trend nowadays and even Gurdwaras in the US and even in Punjab, India are using those,” said Jesse, who went to Kartarpur Corridor inauguration with the first Jatha (group) last year.
Expressing confidence in the Pakistani government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Jesse said in a statement to IAT, “We at Sikhs of America are grateful for the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor and look forward with confidence at an early repair work for these side domes which got damaged in strong gusts during a storm.”
Kartarpur Sahib, located in Shakargarh, Narowal District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan, made international headlines in November 2019, when Pakistan and India opened a direct border-crossing linking Kartarpur Sahib (Pakistan) with Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s (India) Gurdaspur district.
Kartarpur Sahib is built on the historic site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, lived for 18 years until his death in 1539. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Golden Temple in Amritsar (India) and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib (Pakistan).
Tejinder Singh, Editor, India America Today & White House Correspondent