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India asks Pak to remove anti-India elements from Kartarpur visual

New Delhi, Nov 6


Two days ahead of the highly-anticipated inauguration of the cross-border Kartarpur Corridor, India on Wednesday voiced concerns over the presence of three Sikh separatist leaders, including Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, in an official promotional video of the corridor released by Pakistan and has raised the matter with Islamabad.

The video shows posters by Sikhs for Justice group featuring photographs of Pro-Khalistan leader Bhindranwale and his military adviser Shabeg Singh, who were killed during Operation Blue Star in 1984. Sikhs for Justice is a banned outfit, which is pushing for Sikh Referendum 2020.

The video was released on Monday, ahead of the November 9 inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor, which will connect the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab with the Kartarpur shrine in Pakistan, where Guru Nanak Dev spent his final days.

"India has raised with Pakistan the presence of anti-India, objectionable elements in the video, and asked for removal of the visual," Indian government sources said on Wednesday.

In fact, India is worried that Sikh separatists should not misuse the corridor to leverage their 2020 separatist agenda, sources said.

India will be watching "very, very closely" the Kartarpur Corridor inauguration and the next few days' developments.

India has from time to time voiced its concerns to Pakistan over the activities of anti-India Sikh separatists, including that of Gopal Singh Chawla, and Islamabad has acted on those matters, including removing Chawla from Pakistan's gurdwara board a few months ago, the sources said.

"We have to see if Pakistan continues to keep our concerns in mind," the sources added.