The Sikh community has called on the Indian government to raise the ban on pilgrims going to Pakistan to visit Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, for the 556th birthday of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji celebrations in November.
In a statement, Sikh Gurdwara Vice-President Parbandhak Committee (Pakistan) said that thousands of Sikhs pilgrims were impatient to participate in the one-week festivities.
The government of Pakistan assured the committee that the Kartarpur corridor remains open to Indian Sikhs pilgrims and that the visas will be issued from the top of the New Delhi commission, he added.
Earlier, India refused Pakistan’s invitation to Sikhs pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Narowal district, to attend the 486th anniversary of the death of the spiritual leader Sikh Baba Guru Nanak Ji, scheduled for September 22.
Due to the closure of the Wagah / Attari border and the Kartarpur corridor, no pilgrim of India was able to attend the ceremonies. However, the faithful Sikhs of the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries planned to participate.
Pak-India Sikh Pilgrimage Contested
After climbing tensions in April this year, Pakistan and India closed the Wagah / Attari border and expelled the citizens of the other. Later, between May 6 and 10, the two countries embarked on a short but intense confrontation between them.
Read: India prohibits Guru’s anniversary Sikhs
According to the spokesperson for the board of directors of the Evacuee Trust, Pakistan had clearly indicated when the border was closed that its doors had remained open to the 24-hour pilgrims, and they could visit each time.
He said Pakistan has once again extended an invitation to Indian Sikhs for Baba Guru Nanak’s birthday, but sources confirm that the Indian government has refused to issue the required non-objection certificates (NOC) for land trip.
Deeply expressing the regrets of the situation, the president of the Pakistan Committee Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak, Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, said that the Sikhs from visiting their holy sites was a violation of fundamental religious rights.
He stressed that no community should be deprived of the freedom to execute its religious rituals and announced that it would share more details with the media at a next press conference
