After celebrating 550 Parkash Gurpurb of Sikh religion’s founder Guru Nanak Sahib, Pakistan is set to mark the centenary of Saka Nankana Sahib, a golden chapter of Sikh history related to the martyrdom of Sikhs, at the birthplace of Guru Nanak Sahib, where it took place, in February 2021.
Saka Nankana
Sahib is the massacre that took place in Gurdwara Janam Asthan at Nankana Sahib
on 20 February 1921, at that time of British India, in modern-day Pakistan.
More than 260 Sikhs were killed, the youngest of them being a little short of
eight years, Sardar Darbara Singh, son of Sardar Kehar Singh, by the Mahant and
his mercenaries.
The event forms
an important part of Sikh history. In political significance, it comes next
only to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of April 1919.
The saga
constitutes the core of the Gurdwara Reform Movement started by the Sikhs in
the early twentieth century.
Satwant Singh,a spokesperson
of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), which is the government body
constituted to oversee the Hindu and Sikh shrines in Pakistan, told that the
country was again keen to host the Sikh sangat on the centenary which would be
observed with Sikh zeal to pay tribute to the Sikhs who attained martyrdom while
fighting the corrupt Mahants during the British regime.
Pakistan Government has resolved to observe this centenary on a large scale and wants the Sikh sangat to ensure its participation in it with a large number.They have already started the planning for marking the centenary.
Inderjit Singh, another member of the PSGPC,
said, “Our efforts of marking this centenary will be successful only if a
maximum number of the Sikh devotees visit Nankana Sahib on the historic
occasion and becomes its part. We especially appeal to the Indian government to
allow the Sikhs to take part in the centenary functions. On our end, we will
leave no stone unturned to host the Sikh sangat”.
Notably, the
PSGPC is also celebrating Jyoti Jot Gurpurb of Guru Nanak at Gurdwara Darbar
Sahib, Kartarpur Sahib, in Pakistan from September 20 to 22 this year. This
will be first Jyoti Jot Gurpurb at the Sikh shrine, last resting place of the
first Sikh Guru, after the opening of the corridor, visa-free access provided
to Sikhs living in India to the shrine which is only four kilometers away from
the international border.
The gurdwara
body urged the Indian government to allow the Indian devotees to visit
Kartarpur Sahib from September 20 to 22.
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