Sikh Pilgrims Throng Pakistan For Guru Nanak Anniversary

Sikh Yatrees (pilgrims) from across the world throng Pakistan to attend 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in Pakistan, as religious tourism has registered significant increase due to measures taken by the incumbent government

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Nov, 2021 ) :Sikh Yatrees (pilgrims) from across the world throng Pakistan to attend 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak in Pakistan, as religious tourism has registered significant increase due to measures taken by the incumbent government.

This year over 8,000 Sikh from all over the world are visiting Pakistan to celebrate the 552nd birth anniversary of Sikh faith's founder, Guru Nanak Dev.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken several initiatives for the facilitation of religious tourism especially for Sikh pilgrims including historic opening of visa-free Kartarpur Sahib Corridor in November 2019 on the occasion of the 550th Birth Anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.

For a Sikh visiting Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan is like fulfilling the one-lifetime wish of a Muslim to pay obeisance in holy Mecca. A sea of Sikhs were seen visiting the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan.

During their stay in Pakistan, the Sikh pilgrims will pay obeisance at different Gurdwaras including Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.

Pakistan High Commission in India had issued some 3,000 visas on the eve of the 552nd birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak. Some 10 Afghan Sikh pilgrims included four men and six women enter Pakistan via Torkham border for Guru Nanak's birth anniversary' Guru Nanak Dev.

The Indian pilgrims will be able to visit different gurdwaras including Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib."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." The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) is a statutory board that manages religious properties and shrines of Hindus and Sikhs who had migrated to India following the partition.

Guru Nanak, born in 1469 to a Hindu family near present-day Lahore, is revered both by Sikhs and Hindus who prepare community feasts known as langars to mark his birth anniversary. The Indian government has allowed re-opening of the Kartarpur corridor that connects Sikh shrines in India and Pakistan, given the decline in covid-19 cases.

The movement of pilgrims from India to Pakistan through the corridor set to began from Wednesday, keeping in view improved Covid-19 situation.

Two years ago, India and Pakistan had opened the Kartarpur corridor, a visa-free border crossing that connects the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan to India. The 4.7-kilometer-long corridor was inaugurated on 9 November, 2019 to commemorate the 550th Parkash Gurpurb (birth anniversary) of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. It is believed that the Gurudwara Darbar Sahib is the final resting place of Guru Nanak. Tense ties between the two countries and the Covid-19 pandemic have clouded the travel of Sikh pilgrims wishing to visit the shrine.

The movement through the corridor had been suspended since 16 March, 2020 "on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.The white-domed shrine in Kartarpur, a small town just four kilometres (2.5 miles) inside Pakistan, had remained out ofreach of Indian Sikhs for decades because of hostile relations between the two countries.