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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued around 3,000 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims to participate in the 552nd birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak.
According to a statement, the birthday festivities will be held from 17th to 26th November. During their stay in Pakistan, the Sikh pilgrims would pay obeisance at different Gurdwaras, including Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi in a message from its Twitter handle said that they had issued around 3000 visas to Indian Sikh Yatrees on the eve of the 552nd Birth Anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
“Pakistan High Commission in India extends profound felicitations to the Sikh community in India and across the world on the 552nd Birth Anniversary of the founder of Sikh religion,” it said.
The High Commission also wished a spiritually rewarding yatra to the pilgrims visiting Pakistan. It said the issuance of maximum number of pilgrimage visas is in line with the Government of Pakistan’s efforts for promoting visits to religious shrines in Pakistan.
Every year, a large number of Sikh pilgrims come to Pakistan to participate in the birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev. Pakistan has a rich Sikh heritage and culture with several holy places of the religion in the country.
The Foreign Office on Friday said that the Kartarpur Corridor was open from its side and India was also expected to allow the Sikh pilgrims desiring to join the upcoming birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak.
“We are all set to welcome thousands of devotees from India and around the world coming to Pakistan for the upcoming birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak from 17-26 November for which elaborate arrangements have been put in place,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said in his weekly press briefing.
He said Pakistan also commemorated the second anniversary of the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, called the ‘Corridor of Hope’ by the UN Secretary-General.
Inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2019, the Corridor is a shining example of our efforts to promote interfaith harmony and is reflective of the primacy Pakistan accords to religious minorities in the country.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken several initiatives for the facilitation of Sikh pilgrims, including the historic opening of the visa-free Kartarpur Sahib Corridor in November 2019 on the occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
Visas to the Sikh pilgrims have been issued under the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974, which provides for the visit of 3,000 Sikh pilgrims from India for the birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak. Thousands of Sikh pilgrims residing in countries other than India would also be visiting Pakistan to attend the event.
