As we live the last hours of the year 2019, The World Sikh News ac­knowl­edges the con­tri­bu­tion of Janab Im­ran Khan -the ho­n­ourable, hand­some, hard­work­ing, hon­est and vi­sion­ary leader of Pak­istan, who ush­ered in a new era of Sikh-Mus­lim broth­er­hood by tak­ing the long-over­due ini­tia­tive of build­ing the Kar­tarpur Sahib cor­ri­dor and vow­ing to pre­serve Sikh her­itage in the Is­lamic Re­pub­lic of Pak­istan.

GOD-FEAR­ING IM­RAN KHAN opened  new vis­tas of Sikhism-Is­lam un­der­stand­ing and fos­ter­ing the bond­ing and broth­er­hood be­tween the two Pun­jabs.The Sikh com­mu­nity will ever be grate­ful to Pak­istan Prime Min­is­ter Im­ran Khan, the gov­ern­ment of Pak­istan and the peo­ple of Pak­istan, who have not just opened the gates across the Rad­cliff line, but have opened their hearts through the Kar­tarpur cor­ri­dor ini­tia­tive.

The vast­ness of the heart of Im­ran Khan was laid out to the Sikh world when he called Nankana Sahib the Mecca of the Sikhs and Kar­tarpur Sahib as the Mad­ina of the Sikhs and said that just as a Mus­lim can­not be kept away from Mecca and Med­ina, sim­i­larly Sikhs can­not be delinked from Nankana Sahib and Kar­tarpur Sahib.

The grand style in which the gov­ern­ment of Pak­istan cel­e­brated the 550 years of Guru Nanak -the is­suance of postage stamps, spe­cial coins and cur­rency, the es­tab­lish­ment of the Baba Nanak Uni­ver­sity and the ear­lier pass­ing of the Pak­istan Anand Mar­riage Act, preser­va­tion and con­ser­va­tion of the her­itage of his­toric and re­li­gious cen­tres of the Sikhs in Pak­istan will be cher­ished by Sikhs for all times to come.

It would not be wrong to say that there could not have been a bet­ter bless­ing than this to the Sikh com­mu­nity and for those who yearn for peace in South Asia in the 550^th year of Guru Nanak.

The World Sikh News be­lieves that Al­lah Tal­lah chose Im­ran Khan and his Pak­istan Tehreek-e-In­saaf party to be­stow the credit of tak­ing this re­mark­able step.

Im­ran Khan by this deft move took the whole Sikh world by sur­prise, awe and re­spect. In a world that is see­ing the growth of hate and ac­ri­mony, this has taken the hate­mon­gers by sur­prise.

The build­ing of dé­tente be­tween In­dia and Pak­istan through the Kar­tarpur Peace Cor­ri­dor is an event un­par­al­leled in con­tem­po­rary his­tory.  A mi­nus­cule mi­nor­ity com­mu­nity -the Sikhs, through its love for Fa­ther­hood of God and Broth­er­hood of Mankind has en­abled this and this makes the com­mu­nity proud. 

The cor­ri­dor opened by Im­ran Khan, his gov­ern­ment and their ar­ti­sans in record time, is not just a cor­ri­dor for Sikh pil­grims, but a peace cor­ri­dor. It is a cor­ri­dor of peace, built not in fear of the strength or weak­ness of any peo­ples of the coun­try but on the foun­da­tions of equal­ity and jus­tice. The Pak­istan Tehreek-e-In­saaf has done In­saaf- jus­tice to the Sikhs, to the peo­ple of both the coun­tries yearn­ing for peace and has made it­self proud of liv­ing up to its name.

Im­ran Khan’s call to fight poverty in South Asia, in­clud­ing in Pak­istan and In­dia, is a call that should not go un­heeded. If gov­ern­ments in­vest more in ed­u­ca­tion, health care and fight­ing poverty and less on de­fence, South Asia will not only be peace­ful and pros­per­ous but be­come an ex­am­ple for oth­ers to fol­low.

Tak­ing a cue from Im­ran Khan, let us all be the torch-bear­ers of jus­tice, peace, love and equal­ity in South Asia.