M A I N   N E W S

Buses to Nankana Sahib this Baisakhi
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Nankana Sahib (Pakistan), March 16
While Indian Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi today laid the foundation stone of Baba Guru Nanak dual carriageway, the first lot of 10 buses carrying Sikh devotees from Amritsar to the historic town will ply on April 13, the Baisakhi. The road, costing Rs 26 crore, will be ready in a year.

Describing the occasion as historic, Amarinder Singh said: “It had fulfilled the wish of the Sikhs, who while performing daily “ardas” used to pray for “Khule darshan didare” (visit without hindrance) of Sikh religious places.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz gave nod to the proposal which was discussed with him by the two Chief Ministers at a breakfast meeting this morning. Now, Indian Government’s nod is awaited in this regard.

Making announcement here at the historic Gurdwara Janam Asthan Guru Nanak Dev, Amarinder Singh said it would be a symbolic but historic beginning of bus journey from Amritsar to the holy town. The bus service on this route would later start on regular basis and Sikh devotees would be able to travel to the town in the morning and return home by evening.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri went on to say that road from Amritsar to Nankana Sahib via Wagha already existed and Pakistan would welcome the starting of a bus service on the road. It was up to the Indian Government to work out the modalities for starting the service, he added.

Amarinder Singh said he prayed at the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara for lasting peace and harmony between the two countries. He said both countries would resolve their differences on important issues and march ahead on the path of development to fight poverty and unemployment.

Mr Elahi also spoke on similar lines and said the sapling of peace and friendship, which was planted a few months ago, “had grown at a tremendous pace and would be a tree soon”. He reiterated that his government had prepared a extensive plan to beautify Nankana Sahib.

Earlier, Amarinder Singh, his wife Preneet Kaur, his media adviser B.I.S. Chahal, Lal Singh, Chaudhary Jagjit Singh and Rana K.P. Singh paid obeisance at Gurdwara Janam Asthan and presented “romalas” beside a “silver chaur” and a silver bowl.

Head Granthi of the gurdwara Prem Singh held “ardas” for peace between the two countries.

At the gurdwara, Amarinder Singh and Pervaiz Elahi were received by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna and Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Mastan Singh besides others.

Later, both Chief Ministers addressed a public rally here, which was, perhaps, the first to be addressed jointly by political leaders of the two neighbouring countries after Partition.