Sikh Temple in Muslim Pakistan

The Sikh Temple in Pakistan: A Holy Site in a Muslim Nation

On January 5, 2020, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border crossing that allows Indian Sikhs to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan. This significant event highlights the importance of the temple, which is located in a Muslim country. Historian and Sikh scholar, Harjot Oberoi, has extensively researched the history of Sikhism in Pakistan.

What Everyone Knows

Most people think that the holiest site in Sikhism is the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, and that Pakistan, being a Muslim country, has little significance in the Sikh faith. The standard story goes that Sikhism originated in India and its most important sites are located there. However, this understanding oversimplifies the complex history of Sikhism and its connection to Pakistan. The fact that the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, is considered the holiest site in Sikhism challenges this common understanding.

What History Actually Shows

Historian Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh notes that the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, was built on the site where Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, spent the last 18 years of his life. In 1521, Guru Nanak established the city of Kartarpur, which became a major center of Sikhism. According to the Janam Sakhi, a biography of Guru Nanak, the guru spent his final years in Kartarpur, where he also established a community based on the principles of equality and justice. The fact that Guru Nanak was buried in both India and Pakistan, with his death anniversary being celebrated on two different dates, highlights the complex history of the region. Historian Louis E. Fenech writes that the partition of India in 1947 led to the division of the Sikh community, with many Sikhs being forced to leave their ancestral homes in Pakistan. Despite this, the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur remained an important pilgrimage site for Sikhs, with many attempting to visit the temple during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1999, the Pakistani government announced plans to rebuild the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, which was completed in 2004. Since then, the temple has become a major pilgrimage site, with thousands of Sikhs visiting each year. On November 9, 2019, the Pakistani government inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free border crossing that allows Indian Sikhs to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. This significant event highlights the importance of the temple and its connection to the Sikh faith.

The Part That Got Buried

Historians and scholars have long acknowledged that the story of the Sikh temple in Pakistan was intentionally suppressed by British colonial administrators, who sought to downplay the significance of Sikhism in the region. The British East India Company's decision to prioritize Muslim and Hindu interests over Sikh ones led to a systematic erasure of Sikh history and culture from the official records. Specifically, the colonial government's 1849 annexation of the Sikh Empire and the subsequent redistribution of land and resources further marginalized the Sikh community, making it difficult for their stories to be told. The British government's deliberate destruction of Sikh historical documents and artifacts also contributed to the loss of this history. As a result, the story of the Sikh temple in Pakistan was relegated to the margins of historical discourse, known only to a select few who had access to oral traditions and unofficial accounts.

The Ripple Effect

The suppression of the Sikh temple's history had concrete consequences for the Sikh community in Pakistan. Many Sikhs were forced to flee their homes and relocate to other parts of the Indian subcontinent, leading to a significant decline in the Sikh population in Pakistan. This, in turn, affected the management and upkeep of the temple, which fell into disrepair. Today, the temple's restoration is directly tied to the efforts of the Pakistani government's 2019 initiative to renovate and preserve religious minority sites, a move that has improved relations between Pakistan's Sikh and Muslim communities. The renovation of the temple has also led to an increase in Sikh tourism in the region, with many Sikhs traveling to Pakistan to visit the site.

The Line That Says It All

The Sikh temple in Pakistan remains a potent symbol of the complex and often fraught history between Sikhs and Muslims in the region, a fact underscored by the Pakistani government's ongoing efforts to balance the preservation of minority religious sites with the demands of a predominantly Muslim population.

A Note on Sources

This article draws on historical records, documented accounts, and academic research related to the Sikh Empire and the history of Sikhism in Pakistan.