Sikh leaders urge India to allow pilgrims to Guru Nanak's anniversary

Lahore: Pakistani Sikh leaders and the Evacuee Trust Property Board on Wednesday urged the Indian government to allow Sikh pilgrims to participate in the commemorative event marking Guru Nanak Dev’s death anniversary at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur on September 22.

Following the Pahalgam terror attack in April, India has closed the Attari-Wagah border.

ETPB, the body responsible for the upkeep of minority religious sites in Pakistan, said that Sikh devotees from India have been unable to travel following the restrictions imposed in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.

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Urging the Indian government to allow Sikh pilgrims to travel to their holy places in Pakistan, ETPB spokesperson Ghulam Mohyuddin told PTI, “Our doors remain open for Sikh pilgrims.”

He said events marking the death anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev is scheduled for Sept 22 at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.

Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and a minister in the Punjab government, also urged that Sikh devotees be permitted to travel for the event.

Mahesh Singh, vice president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, echoed the demand for facilitating Sikh pilgrims from India.

The Pakistani government opened the Kartarpur Corridor in November 2019, which is around 4.1 kilometres from the Pakistan-India border.

The corridor links Pakistan’s Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, lived and died at the start of the 16th century, to the Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district. The 4 km-long corridor provides visa-free access to Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.

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