Chandigarh, December 12, 2018: Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today urged the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder SIngh to
refrain from saying or doing anything that might scuttle the access to the sacred and historic shrine at Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan and vitiate the atmosphere for the culmination of the ardas of millions of SIkhs of all over the world.
Sardar Sukhbir Singh described the proposed opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor as "a great and glorious collective achievement of the entire Khalsa Panth, beyond political or partisan lines. "Although the movement for the opening of the corridor was started and pursued persistently and with religious fervour and zeal by the the SAD stalwarts like Master Tara Singh ji, Sant Fates\h SIngh ji, Sant Longowal ji, Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra Sahib, Jathedar Jagdev
Singh Talwandi Sahib and Sardar Kuldip Singh Wadala sahib, apart from Sardar Parkash SIngh Badal and lakhs and lakhs of followers of the party, it ( the corridor) still remains a non-partisan achievement of the Sikh masses who prayed for it in their daily ardas for the past 70 years. The SAD in fact humbly acknowledges the role played by everyone across party lines and expresses its gratitude to each one of them for that. We have enough other issues to debate over in political life.
The Kartarpur Sahib corridor is a sacred and collective non-political and religious achievement of the community and must be celebrated as such."
Mr Badal said that the government of India must be conscious of the worries expressed by Captain SIngh on the security aspect and must have factored these into their decision on the opening of the corridor. "We need to thank first the government of India for taking the initiative to order that the corridor will be built by the centre and then we are grateful to the government and people of Pakistan for responding to India's initiative. Captain Sahib should leave the security concerns to those in charge of it. If ever a threat to the country arises on the Punjab border, the Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular know how to give a befitting reply to that. We must remember that it was the initiative of the Government of India which forced the neighbours to expedite matters. But we are still
thankful to them for their gesture."