Conveying its concern over the desecration of Durbar Sahib gurdwara following a fashion shoot at the shrine, India on Tuesday summoned the senior-most Pakistani diplomat in New Delhi. The gurdwara was built at the site where Guru Nanak spent the last years of his life. A Lahore-based fashion brand recently did a photoshoot, the images of which were posted on its social media accounts. The model featured in the photos did not have her head covered as is required of all visitors to Sikh shrines. This has resulted in widespread criticism in India and Pakistan.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Pakistan’s charge d’affaires Aftab Hasan Khan was summoned to “convey our deep concern at the incident of desecration of the sanctity of Gurudwara Shri Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, by a Pakistani model and a clothing brand”.
Khan was informed this “reprehensible incident has deeply hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community in India and worldwide”, he said.“Such continued incidents of desecration and disrespect of places of religious worship of the minority communities in Pakistan highlight the lack of respect for the faith of these communities,” he added.
The Indian side also told Khan that it expects “Pakistani authorities to sincerely investigate this matter and take action against those involved”.
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee demanded that the matter be taken up with the Pakistan government after they had written to external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday. With elections coming up in Punjab, the matter had become a hot issue in political circles.
However, authorities in Pakistan had already taken up the issue before India’s formal protest. Kartarpur is located in Pakistan’s Punjab province, and Usman Buzdar, the provincial chief minister, took “strict notice” of the matter and sought a report on the incident from the chief secretary.
“A thorough inquiry will be done on this incident. CM Punjab reiterated that all religions are respected in Pakistan,” said a tweet from the handle of the Punjab provincial government. It added in another tweet that “strict action will be taken against all culprits”.
Pakistan’s Punjab Police said in a tweet that officials were “investigating all aspects related to this incident and strict legal action will be taken against responsible”. The management of the fashion brand and model were also being investigated, it added.
Pakistan’s information minister Fawad Chaudhry asked the fashion designer and model involved in the incident to apologise, saying the gurdwara is a “religious symbol and not a film set”.
