Between India and Pakistan – the Sikhs | DW Documentary
Relations. Between India, and Pakistan are somewhat entangled, affair rather. Like at first glance the turban gone by Sikh men. Amardeep. Singh is curious to know what happens when an Indian seat like himself travels, to Pakistan. He's. Decided to embark on a pilgrimage and for the first time in his life cross. The border via the new car Tata 4 corridor. I'm. Thick. I'm, a bond thick. The. Visiting, my, gurus place it, is like a Muslim is visiting, a mecca for. Am, indeed the journey is also a sentimental, one visiting. The homeland of his ancestors, and to the other half of his culture split, in two by the partition of India and Pakistan, in 1947 a. Former. Indian consul general the Pakistan, explains. Qatar. / is very, very I can't. Stress, it more very very very important, to them and, don't. Forget that it is probably. The Sikhs who suffered, the most at, partition. The Sikhs who lost the most at. Partition. And. The. Sikhs also, who. Retaliated, the, most at partition. How, did the tiny minority of Sikhs become, such an important, political issue for the two powerful nations. Will. Cut part 4 change anything for the Sikhs, could. It be a testing, ground for peace between India and Pakistan more, than 70 years after their partition, as. We travel through India and Pakistani, Punjab we, come across new hopes and fears. The. New border crossing is located, just a few hours drive south of Kashmir the region, India and Pakistan, have fought two wars over since their foundation and where, they remain on a hostile, footing with each other. But. Here on the ground in Punjab at the entrance to the car top or corridor, the mood is currently a peaceful, even relaxed, one. The. Indian subcontinent is, home to over one and a half billion people, 20. Million of them are sikhs most. Of them like aman deep live in the punjab a region, that was torn apart by the partition of india and pakistan. For. More than 70, years there, was only one border crossing, but, now there's a new one guard talked with. Amun. Deep makes his final preparations, for a journey that he expects will change his world. Corridor. Is bringing, peace in. The South Asia which. Is definitely peace for the world. I'm. On deep singh has seen a lot of the world he, spent a number of years in Birmingham England and has also traveled extensively across, India and to Dubai but.
This Is his first trip and a politically conscious pilgrim, for. This purpose the dentist has transformed, his small car into a kind of ambassador's, vehicle. He's. Joined on this expedition to their unfamiliar, larger, neighbor by his wife Geeta. Aman. Deep conducts one last online, check before setting off a video. On the Kitab for Sahib corridor. The. Cardboard corridor four. Kilometers of freshly paved road for. Indian seeks a new highway to a holy site it. Leads to Qatar or Sahib in Pakistan, the, world's largest Sikh, temple, it's. Where the founder of their religion Guru Nanak spent, the last years of his life in the 16th century and is now bearing it's. A place that every Sikh wants to visit once in their life. The, first group of pilgrims set up for Haddad quarter also known as Dada bata Sahib in November 2019, the date, on which the corridor was inaugurated was, no coincidence, November. 19 the anniversary, of the fall of the Berlin Wall, it. Was opened on the Indian side by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And almost. At the same time but, not in the same place by, his Pakistani counterpart Imran. Khan. It. Had been almost 20, years since plans, for such a corridor reversed for hosts by then Indian Premier a pod Bihari Vajpayee. And. It's. In that spirit of peace that Amanda and Kira are now making their trip. They, were both born in Punjab not far from where they now live in good Yana they're. Making the trip on behalf of their respective families and, are among the first to have been granted permission to go to Kabul. I'm. Excited, I, am it, is I'm just living the moment I saw. Many videos many pictures, many people, going across, but. To, me visiting, that place will be a divine, feeling, basically. Hindu. Religion, America. Married. In a sick family and going to almost whimper. Their, journey takes them through the Indian part of the Punjab the, breadbasket of India and the only Indian state where Sikhs comprise the majority population. The. Rule even, romantic region, is home to 18 of the 20 million contain Sikhs. As. Well. As Amman deepen kita pilgrims. From within Pakistan, are also underway, on, Sikh. Holidays, believers. Are required to visit a temple for, Gurdwara, ideally. One of the especially, holy places like Nanking asahi birthplace. Of the religions founder Guru Nanak. Nan. Cana sahib lies a good three hour drive away from Kartarpur this. Is where Bhupinder Singh lives it works. I. Belong. To the first Sikh, family who migrated, here after 1947. My. Grandfather, and his two brothers were the first ones to come, although. Sikh families, had moved from here to India during the partition. 1947. Which partition, the door on subject. At that time it was difficult for a Pakistani, seek with the turbulent Olivia. Today. Pakistan. Has an estimated Sikh population of, just 20,000, in a country of 220. Million Muslims, twenty-eight-year-old, per Pinder has strong thoughts about the country's partition, over 70 years ago I. Could. Say our Indian Singh brothers on the other side they. Would look at the good water through binoculars that was their way of paying respect and, homage to the shrine for. Just a single glimpse of the temple these people traveled thousands, of kilometres across India. We. Accompany sing through the Pakistani, Punjab, - nincada Sahib, where a sense of tradition meets, a more future oriented outlook as, typify by singing the. Tools of his trade are a laptop and camera, he's. A YouTube video refer, with a very specific target audience. There. Are sorry, pengie ability, in the team behind the Punjabi her YouTube channel are, trying to increase the love between Pakistan. And India, because. They have so much in common, okay I don't, want a Sunday which got hot sorry we. Don't understand, the reasons for the hate between the two nations. The. Temple of non Kanna Sahib, is Saints favorite filming location, his, videos provide an insight into the Sikh religious, service on. Feast days a ceremonial, reader or grantee, carries, the holy book into the temple on his head an expression. Of respect together. With the ceremonial, fan. See, Kermit live here, seek. Means someone, who learns. In. Sikhism there is one guy he. Is the almighty and the creator and lord over everything. To. The supreme god he, is the god of truth and, he takes care of all living things. What's. Hard and. Well ahead. Women. Have equal rights in the Sikh religion and there is no caste system, because in Hinduism, the belief, in one God and one book of faith is a concept, also familiar to Muslims while, Hindus recognized the notion of Guru Sat beneath sacred trees. Guru. Nanak adopted. A range of ideas from the great religions he was surrounded by but. Also added his own notably. The three basic principles. Praying. And thinking of God, earning.
A Living by honest means and, sharing. The fruits of one's labor with others. That's. Why Sikh temples all offer free food and drink to visitors regardless, of their religious affiliation. Those. Who work hard and are eager to share tend to make friends this. Is perhaps another reason for the growing social presence of Sikhs in Pakistan. Or. PCB, solder, which fit ice ice ice ice over the last 20 years we, Sikhs gradually, started, to become a more prominent, in society, as. You can see my own family. Are. In the army, some, are professors, doctors. Engineers. And. One of our boys is in the Rangers. So. Hugh and I this, created, a sense of pride amongst, us and. Now you can see Sikhs represented. In every field here, even. Though we're among the smallest minorities. In the country. The. Temple next door has been draped in a special show of lights to celebrate Guru Nanak's birthday. Here. We meet one of GU Pinder's relatives, who has also enjoyed professional, success. Mahendran, Paulo Singh. Who's. A proud member of the provincial, assembly of Punjab. The. Sole Sikh parliamentarian. In Pakistan. There's. Nothing better than being born in the same place where Sikhism, was born and. Our religion, began. I'm. So proud of that. Over. Down here is the ready probe to use again for. Mahender, the, Kartarpur corridor, is the fruit of joint efforts at a political and religious. Level. Qatar. Poor corridor, is not a recent idea. It's. The result of many decades of prayers by us Sikhs. In. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan religious. Tolerance is far from a given. Mahender. Looks to the good example set by his fellow believers, booty. Duty odyssic, now. Seeks from all over the world our kind of ambassadors, for Pakistan. And. When they see the love and respect they, receive from us they. Will then know that we are a loving and peaceful nation. Did. Not Alma nove laura.pirovano Mallika. Like. All Sikh temples, this one is funded primarily via, donations. The, money increasingly, comes from the US Canada, and Britain where, the majority of Sikhs outside the Indian subcontinent live. But. It's the stance of Indian Sikhs that is decisive for the region. When. Our Indian visitors go back they will take away the message enough. Violence. Or fighting resolves, nothing we. Have to sit together and talk and, for, that reason the Kartarpur corridor. Will, become the karna poor peace corridor. In. New, Delhi veteran. Foreign policy expert Manny Shankar, Aiyar attributes. This primarily to the Sikhs in Pakistan. This. Is a symbol, of the. Importance. That Pakistan. Attaches. To. Reconciling. At least the Sikh community, with. Them and. Don't. Forget that it is probably. The Sikhs who suffered, the most at. Partition. The six would lost the most at, partition. And. The. Sikhs also, who. Retaliated, the, most at partition. The. History of the Sikhs is one of glory and miserable, triumphs. And defeats of. Suffering, and inflicting, pain and nowhere. Is this legacy more visible or tangible than, an amid Sun the, cradle of Sikh culture in Indian Punjab. Among. Deep and his wife stopped off to visit his brother who lives nearby and now have their niece with them to visit the first and only partition, Museum on the Indian subcontinent the. Museum. Was opened in 2017. In the Town Hall of Amritsar, to mark the 70th anniversary of partition, most. Of the collection comprises, photos and memorabilia of people directly affected by the partition. Ruins. And life-size replicas, bear witness to the victims and give visitors a very physical, and emotional impression, of a suffering. Forty. Percent of the population you know uprooted, completely, from both the side. People. Lost their lives their. Earnings. It's. Been 70 years and wounds are not healed. In. June 1947. The, British had agreed to separate Muslim Pakistan, from the predominantly, Hindu India and grant, the two nations independence. Barely, three months later. British. Wanted, to rule here so, it was their policy to divide, dividers, that is one of the you know blackest, chapter. In, the colonial rule. Till. Now you, know you, know we. Meet people who. Survived, that day and you know. Even. Expecting, the apology, from British. Parliament. Up. Until the very last minute the British left open exactly, where the border would run the. Radcliffe, line named, after the British chairman, of the boundary committee was, drawn in an arbitrary, manner with, dramatic, consequences the. Independence, at that time was like a disease, in Punjab it was like a like. A plague immediately. We started losing people, that's.
The Sad part I, mean whenever, Independence, Day comes at, least being a Punjabi I cannot, you, know I cannot, relate, myself with the celebration, because I cannot ignore this part I cannot. Ignore the suffering. The. Enforced population, transfers, in the provinces, of Punjab and been gone were unprecedented, with, up to 20 million displaced persons, and 1, million dead, there. Are no exact figures only. Bitter memories of the past and fears, for the future. Visiting. This museum bringing. Fear in my heart, I mean I'm comparing, that 1947. Moment with today and same. Thing is happening today as well we should try to do something so. That nothing. That it will happen again, what. Among deep is referring to is the other element, of indo-pakistani. Division, Kashmir. The region has a predominantly, Muslim population. With a large Hindu minority and both, countries continue, to press claims to the entire territory. A. Visit. To the museum provides, an alternative, perspective of the present whatever. Body comes into power they. Really want the narratives, on the history, from their point of view I read the history but. Everything, when but, but when I'm coming to a museum in, this age I'm watching. Many new things and that's. Terrible. A generation. Should be told about. The mistakes, at, the. Earliest age. In. The partition Museum the thorny tree representing. Relations, between India, and Pakistan has, leaves bearing friendly wishes. But, Kiran has also experienced. A less promising state of affairs. History. Is being changed I am a teacher and each year courses, and the syllabuses, are being changed especially, history. Books by, replacing chapters. In them. Just. A 10-minute walk away from the sobering partition, Museum is a truly resplendent. Side and one, intimately, connected, to the history of the Sikhs the. Golden temple of amun Itza, their, holiest site on Indian soil it. Dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. In. Modern, times it was the site of a traumatic event that's, been etched into the memory of Sikhs.
Rossi, David in 1984. There was a massacre, a genocide, a killing of an entire generation of Sikhs in Delhi after. That even, to this day we. Were advised not to talk about. To. Move on, salar. De john the air be to see por la jolla to see or gauge a load. In. 1984. Sikhs wanted to create their own state of college stun independent. Of India with, Amritsar, as its capital. Fearing. Further independence. Movements the then Indian, Prime Minister Indira, Gandhi ordered, the army to storm the temple to, dislodge Sikh extremists, who have been using it as a refuge, around. 500, Sikhs died in the ensuing gunfire, a. Few. Weeks later Indira, Gandhi was murdered, by two Sikh bodyguards. Anti-sikh. Pogroms, broke out and hundreds, of innocent civilians were killed those. Responsible, were eventually sentenced over, 30 years after the crime. We. Used to look at the ruins left, by the massacre, and think did this actually happen in an independent in free India, or, were you not part of India why did it have to come to that later. On we gradually tried to dig for more information, but, we did not find any answers. Four, seeks the Golden Temple in Amritsar, will always be associated with mixed feelings and bitter memories of the storming by the Indian Army. The. Most dark, stain, on. Independent. India and, on the Congress party and on. The, Rajiv Gandhi government. From, which despite. Apologies. That have been tendered subsequently. It. Will be difficult for any historian. To, say the state has been wiped out. After. Taking some valuable, history lessons on board for the journey to a potentially, brighter future, I'm, on deep now heads for Qatar and. Finds time. Never. Comes easy it never, does. Not matter how much effort you put how. Much times, you know you, can demand it but in today's political scenario, between, these, two nations. Imran. Khan took a very bold step and. Thanks. To him that it is happening and we, believe it is going to be a wonderful, step, between both, the nations and for the region. This. Part of the Indian Punjab has benefited, from recent developments, the.
Equivalent Of several million euros were invested in, building the few kilometers, of new road across the sandy plains and the approach to cutting the. Road was years in the planning but, even after the opening it still resembles, a building site as does, the futuristic, looking Visitor Centre, barely. Visible in the haze as the much-awaited destination. Garber. Sahib now, just to passport checkpoints, away. I'm. On deep and ki raat have almost reached the final goal visitor. Numbers are limited to 5,000, a day now. A few weeks after the opening the initial rush has subsided. Filming. Is not officially, permitted beyond the gates but, the Indian authorities have, provided an online computer animation, of its passenger, terminal, there. Are passport, checks like at an airport but no visa requirements. It's. Hard to describe how I feel I'm on the Pakistani, side of the Punjab. I've. Just gone through immigration, from the Indian side and then I'll do the same on the Pakistani, side you. Can see the bus behind it I'm, about to get on it and then I'll go to Qatar pour Sahib I have a lot of mixed emotions right now. The entire. Generation. Has prayed to make it very easy for us to be here today all. We had to do was fill out a form at the border and officials, from both countries welcomed. Us, and. Now I would like to thank all of those who made this possible for us. It's. Our daily except, uh Bob and I are. This, is first glimpse. Of he cut across I have another scenario deep. Marvelous. Structure. Totally. In sync with the Sikh, Gurdwara. Our, key, thanks. Finally. The, pilgrims dream becomes reality. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da. Thank. You. Unfortunately. Film cameras are not allowed inside the complex, but. Key docs photos an aman beeps personal, account do give us an impression of how well preserve the historical, interior, is and of, the other many visitors they met people, of all ages and social classes. The. Visitors are not only Sikhs they also, include people from all religions and regions of the subcontinent, curious, to see the site I. Appreciate. How people have showered us with love, we. Spent the first quarter, of an hour just hugging and meeting everyone else. Everyone. Here is really passionate and full of life. Complete. Strangers, come up to say hello. They. Tell us about their own village and they, asked us about ours. Encounters. With an impact Lessing longer than the one-day visit. We. All have to be stakeholders. In this we have to put more effort into this initiative this. Project, needs to prevail and we need more initiatives, to be taken. Todd. Porter Sahib is open to visitors for, just eight hours a day Indian. Citizens, are not allowed to visit other temples on Pakistani, soil so. The Singh's are now at the end of their pilgrimage. Back. To India where Aman deeps family are waiting in their village for a full report on his journey. But no one there was trying to take the credit or saying they were behind the initiative all of them said the same thing. It. Is your right to come, here right. Is on everyone's lips I found, no one who said otherwise, I'm. Excited, and looking forward to, telling everyone, about my experience. And encouraging. Them to go to I, know there are some people who are weary when they hear the news Pakistan, but, I will motivate them to go and experience. Up. Until now the cult r4 corridor, is only open to Indians traveling to Pakistan, but not vice versa. Amun. Deep would like to see Pakistani, Sikhs benefitting, to. Do. On that very site. There. Are already immigration. Counters on each side so extending. The opening in both directions is possible, there. Are also a lot of places in India that are important, for Sikhs. Friendship. Has to be from both sides if India now responds, positively to, our initiative, we'll, give them an even better response. Money. Our Shankar Aiyar from the opposition Congress party in India does not share his optimism, especially. When it comes to a commitment from Prime Minister Modi I, think.
He. Is, and. Against. This kind of a thing it, doesn't suit his party, and it doesn't suit his. Electoral. Support. It. Should things between the two countries evolved, towards peace then he is a worthy candidate, for the Nobel Peace Prize as, well what, is true is that. Imran. Khan like, lots, of Pakistani, leaders, and, I would say. Most. Indian, leaders, you. Know has, an eye on the Nobel Peace Prize which. Would be the, automatic, prize, that. Will be given for. Effecting. A reconciliation. In the two countries. As. Asik Amardeep, is definitely, eager to promote reconciliation between. The two nations. Only. Through dialogue, that. Is both, uninterrupted. And, uninterruptible. That, we will be able to arrive at, a resolution of, these issues including. Kashmir. What. Is clear is that the Kartarpur corridor, has raised hopes for a more harmonious future, in both parts of the punjab and beyond. This. Was a lifetime opportunity. For me but I'm really happy I made the decision. You.
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