After breaking ground for pilgrims to visit Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan’s Narowal district, India and Pakistan have agreed on one more such endeavour to promote religious and cultural tourism between their people.
On March 25, quoting sources in their foreign ministry, Pakistan media reported the Pakistan government gave its nod to a proposal to build a corridor leading up to the Sharda Peeth temple in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Although the initial bonhomie created between both countries at the ground-breaking and foundation stone-laying ceremonies of the Kartarpur Corridor last November ran into troubled waters after the Pulwama attack, followed by the Balakot surgical strikes, the fate of Sharda Peeth remains to be tested.
“We can be sceptical about it, but we must accept the positive and reject the negative,” says Prof. Amitabh Mattoo, who teaches International Relations at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and is also a visiting faculty at University of Melbourne’s Australia India Institute.
Sources in India’s Ministry of External Affairs said that India had made this proposal several times to Pakistan as part of their composite dialogue. It was made keeping in mind the wishes and religious sentiments of its people.
Approximately 150 km from Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Sharda Peeth is believed to be over 5,000 years old and built by King Ashoka as a prominent seat of learning and worship in 237 BC.
This temple is of great importance to Kashmiri Pandits, the Brahmin community of Kashmir which inhabited the state in large numbers before the partition of India in 1947. Their numbers reduced further when insurgency set in the state some 30 years back.
Making a clear distinction between the civil and military power centres of Pakistan, Prof. Mattoo says: “Any positive confidence-building measure is always welcome. Even though Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan keeps making good gestures every now and then, their army continue to create problems. Time will tell if Kartarpur and Sharda Peeth corridors work.”
Former vice-chancellor of Jammu University and advisor to two chief ministers of Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir, Prof. Mattoo is also one of the most prominent voices of the Kashmiri Pandit community.
Highlighting how important Sharda Peeth is for not only the Kashmiri Pandit community across the world, but also for preserving ancient scripts and literature, Prof. Mattoo sheds some light on its significance.
“Sharda Peeth was a great centre of learning like Takshshila and Nalanda. The Sharda script, prevalent at that time in what is modern-day Kashmir, is even older than Devanagri (in which Hindi is written). The temple had texts in this script, which is now extinct. Getting access to the temple will also help scholars and historians to explore the possibility of its revival,” adds he.
Just like all those who hold the Sikh sacred text Guru Granth Sahib in high regard and have been offering ardaas (special prayer) for easy access to and sewa (community service) in the gurdwaras which are in Pakistan since 1947, Kashmiri Pandits, who left the Kashmir Valley in the mid-1990s following communal unrest, have also been demanding that they be provided access to one of their most ancient and scared shrines.
Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan. Source: Twitter
“Along with former governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Gen. S. K. Sinha, as vice-chancellor of Jammu University, I proposed setting up Sharda Peeth University in the Kashmir Valley so that it isn’t limited by religion, just as Sharda Peeth wasn’t back in the day,” Prof. Mattoo says.
“While we campaign and act against terrorism bred on Pakistan’s soil, if this corridor is built, the decades-long demand of Kashmiri Pandits for this shrine to remain secure and being able to access it safely will be met,” adds he.
Will attacks like Pulwama and Balakot cast their shadow over confidence building measures like Kartarpur and Sharda Peeth Corridors?
“I hope both governments can sequester CBMs from their conflict in some ways. Just like they exchange a list of their nuclear arsenal every January 1, whatever the state of their relations may be, why can’t they keep such important conduits away from their politics,” questions Prof. Mattoo.
Talks on the Kartarpur Corridor are underway despite the tensions between India and Pakistan. With the first round of talks having taken place on March 14, the next round is scheduled for April 2.
