As Pakistan and India discuss the alignment of the Kartarpur Corridor, some 600 villagers who are facing “forcible eviction” due to the project say they will block the development work if denied compensation of their land on commercial rates.
The entire population (600) of village Kothay Khurd, where Gurdwara Dera Sahib Kartarpur is located (some 125-km from Lahore), has been ordered by the district administration to vacate their houses immediately for the development of the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate the Sikh pilgrims from India.
“My ancestors had settled in the village even before the partition and now our fifth generation is living here. Some officials came here and told the residents that the government was planning to build Kartarpur Corridor on our land, therefore we will have to vacate the land,” Mohammad Arshad of Kothay Khurd told reporters.
“We are living in the area for centuries and it was not possible for us to leave the area and the graves of our ancestors,” another villager Zaeem Hussain said, adding that the government officials had only told them that they would be compensated after their land and houses had been acquired.
Hussain said there has been consensus among the villagers to sacrifice their agricultural land but none of them is ready to leave their ancestral houses.
