Corridor To The Unknown

Kartarpur is part of Imran Khan’s efforts to spin a new narrative about Pakistan. But he needs far more than his rhetoric to succeed.

- Mandira Nayar

The Lahore Fort was studded with fairy lights, like a Christmas store. Colourful murals depicting angels, men, elephants and flowers adorn its walls, making Jehangir’s fort a symbol of Mughal pluralistic tradition.

To the north of the fort, the samadhi of the Sikh ruler Raja Ranjit Singh and the nearby gurdwara were also lit up—in celebration of gurpurab. Pilgrims spent the night dreaming of the next day, when they would travel more than 100 kilometres east and enter Kartarpur Sahib, the gurdwara known as the final resting place of the first Sikh guru, Guru Nanak.

Gayatri mantra on sitar played softly in the garden bound by the fort and the samadhi. Right in the centre of the garden was the tomb of the poet Muhammad Iqbal, the spiritual father of Pakistan. The setting offered Pakistan the perfect platform to launch Prime Minister Imran Khan’s narrative of Naya Pakistan: a confluence of cultures and religions.

The proposed border corridor to Kartarpur Sahib, which will allow Indian devotees to visit Sikh shrines in Pakistan, was Khan’s way of holding out an olive branch to India. Diplomats were driven down bumpy roads of Pakistani Punjab, past pale yellow fields and brick kilns. They were then flown back by chopper to Islamabad. Buses ferried hundreds of journalists to the venue. A white, palatial, air-conditioned tent was erected to accommodate thousands of people, including 3,000 Sikh pilgrims and contingents of diplomats and ministers from both sides of the border.