Ex-MP seeks MEA help to restore Baghdad gurdwara

Former MP Tarlochan Singh has sought urgent diplomatic intervention following reports that the Baba Nanak Shrine in Baghdad, a historic gurdwara linked to Guru Nanak’s visit to the place in the early 16th century, can no longer be identified at its traditional site beside the tomb of Peer Bahlol.

In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 23, Singh stated that pilgrims now found only a merged courtyard at the site where a distinct gurdwara once stood. He urged the Indian Ambassador in Iraq to press Baghdad to restore the site.

“It has been reported that there is no trace of the gurdwara. It is highly objectionable that a historical place connected with Guru Nanak is now missing,” stated the ex-MP.

For generations, the shrine was more than a stone slab and a plaque. Tradition holds that Guru Nanak, on his way back from Mecca around 1511, stayed on the outskirts of Baghdad and exchanged spiritual ideas with local Muslim saints. The shrine was rediscovered by Sikh soldiers during the World War I. It was repaired during the World War II. Relics and a worn inscription survived there until the Iraq war of 2003.