DUBAI: When Dubai-based Surender Singh Kandhari and his wife Bubbles visited Kartarpur in Pakistan 15 years ago, they did not expect that their next visit on Nov. 9 would be a historic one.
Kandhari and Bubbles were the only people from Dubai among 12,000 Sikh pilgrims from around the world who arrived for the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor, the visa-free passage connecting one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines, the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, to the border with India.
“I was invited to the opening ceremony by the government of India,” Kandhari told Arab News. “Of the total 500 invited guests, 50 were from overseas, and me and my wife were the only two invited from the UAE,” he said.
A guide takes a group of Sikh widows sponsored by Joginder Singh Salaria to travel from Peshawar to Kartarpur on Nov. 9, 2019. (Photo courtesy: Joginder Singh Salaria)
Kandhari is a Dubai-based businessman who owns Al Dobowi Group. He built the first gurdwara in the UAE, on a piece of land donated by UAE Vice President and Dubai Emir Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
Recalling the day the Kartarpur corridor was opened, Kandhari said they flew to Amritsar in India and then took the road to Kartarpur. “I have been to Pakistan several times, but that day was special and the reception we got from the Pakistani side was very warm and loving,” he said, adding that Pakistan’s initiative to open the corridor and refurbish the Kartarpur temple built in 1925 was an unbelievable move.
“In just 10 months, they changed and built an entirely new place,” Kandhari said.
“This year marks the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, and opening Kartarpur on this occasion means a lot to us,” he said, adding that he was very grateful to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for making it happen.
He plans to visit the place with another 100 people from Dubai. “I am so happy, impressed and satisfied that I have already started making arrangements to take from Dubai those who wish to visit Kartarpur next year,” he added.
For another Dubai-based businessman, it was not possible to travel for the opening day, but he made sure he could contribute in his own way.
“There are many women, single, divorced and widows who wished to visit Kartarpur, so I arranged transport for them from Peshawar to Kartarpur, stopping at other Sikh worship areas along the way,” Joginder Singh Salaria told Arab News.
Salaria, who has been in Dubai for over 20 years and runs a transportation company, arranged two buses for over 100 Sikh women from Peshawar to visit the shrine.
He said it was a week-long trip who could not afford the pilgrimage. “I think the Pakistani government has done really great by opening this corridor,” he said. “And I am working in my own small way to ensure that Pakistan and India end their differences and unite once again.”
Salaria himself hopes to visit Kartarpur in the near future.
The opening of the Kartarpur corridor on Nov. 9 marked the first time Sikh pilgrims from India could enter Pakistan without a visa since the two countries gained independence from Britain in 1947.
The Kartarpur Gurdwara is of particular importance to the Sikh community, as it was built in tribute to Guru Nanak who founded the town of Kartarpur by the Ravi River in 1515.
