Image of Pakistani flag at immigration centre, Katarpur corridor shared as Gurudwara Darbar Sahib

Images of a building whose rooftop is painted with the Pakistani national flag are being circulated on social media. They were shared by a Facebook page with the claim that the rooftop is of Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur where ideally a Khanda flag should be placed. “Pakistan puts their flags on the rooftop of Kartarpur Gurudwara, instead of khanda flag”, reads the post.

On November 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Kartarpur corridor on the occasion of 550th birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev. The India-Pakistan corridor links the Sikh shrines Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur, India and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur in Pakistan. The Kartarpur Gurudwara is believed to the final resting place of Guru Nanak.

A few more people on Twitter and Facebook shared the images with identical narrative. These pictures have been circulating on social media since the beginning of November.

Immigration centre at Katarpur corridor, not the Gurudwara

With the help of a Google reverse image search, Alt News found that the building shown in the images is the immigration centre at the Kartarpur border. We traced back the image to a report published by Pakistani English daily The Express Tribune on November 4, 2019. “A green flag, which stretches 150 feet high, has been hoisted near the immigration centre. Buses will be ready to receive Indian guests from the border. Scanners, for checking luggage, have also been installed at the gates of Gurdwara Sahib.”, states the report. You can view the aerial image of the immigration centre here.

As seen on Google Maps, the immigration centre at the Kartarpur corridor is situated at a distance from Gurudwara Darbar Sahib Kartapur. According to a report in The Economic Times, the immigration centre was set up in the connection with the Kartarpur corridor in Narowal, which is close to 120 km from Lahore, the capital city of Punjab Province in Pakistan. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Deputy Director (Punjab) Mufakhar Adeel was quoted by the media outlet as saying that the border crossing could be an easy target for “terrorists, human traffickers and drug dealers” hence the centre was built to keep the situation under control on both sides of the border.

In the below video, one can see the immigration centre and the Pakistani flag hoisted at the venue.

Khanda flag at Kartarpur Gurudwara

Khand flag is a Sikh religious flag usually hoisted outside gurudwaras. Social media claims suggested that the flag is not raised at Kartapur Gurudwara. However, in the image below, one can see a Khanda flag hoisted beside the place of worship.

It is also noteworthy that apart from the immigration centre which is situated at a distance from the Gurudwara, one of the structures situated in the Gurudwara’s corridor also adorns the Pakistani national flag on the rooftop. We corroborated the same flag in an image posted by the official Twitter handle of Pakistani PM Imran Khan.

In conclusion, photographs of the immigration centre at Kartarpur corridor are being circulated with the claim that the Pakistani national flag was painted over the rooftop of Gurudwara Darbar Sahib.