LAHORE: A batch of Sikh pilgrims from India will cross into Pakistan on Friday to participate in the ‘Jor Mela,’ a festival observed to mark the death anniversary of Guru Arjun Dev Ji, the fifth Guru of Sikhism and the first of the two Gurus martyred in the Sikh faith.
A second group of pilgrims is expected to arrive in Pakistan on June 27 to pay homage to the former Sikh ruler of united Punjab, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh, on his death anniversary. The two groups will stay in Pakistan for ten days each, crossing over into the country from the Wagah border between Pakistan and India.
Many Sikhs see Pakistan as the place where their religion began: Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469 in a small village near Lahore.
“Two groups of Sikh pilgrims are visiting Pakistan for 10 days each between June 14 and July 6,” said Ami Hashmi, the spokesman of the Evacuee Trust Property Board which is responsible for the maintenance of properties, including religious buildings and sites, abandoned by people who left for India during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
“The first batch will arrive on June 14 for Jor Mela while the second will be reaching on June 27 for the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh,” Hashmi added. “ETPB has completed all arrangements for the 500 Sikh pilgrims.”
He said the Interior Ministry of Pakistan had directed the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi to issue 10-day visas to the pilgrims.
This March, arch-rivals India and Pakistan agreed to go forward with the Kartarpur Corridor, a new border crossing and route for Sikh pilgrims to visit a holy temple in Pakistan.
The Sikh minority community in India’s northern state of Punjab and elsewhere has long sought easier access to the temple in Kartarpur, a village just over the border in Muslim-majority Pakistan. But to get to Kartarpur, travelers must first secure hard-to-get visas, travel to Lahore or some other major Pakistani city and then drive to the village, which is just 4 km (2-1/2 miles) distant from the Indian border. Pakistan has earmarked Rs.1,000 million for the corridor in its budget for fiscal year to June 2020.
In April, a large group of Sikh pilgrims from India performed ritual baths at a famous temple in northwestern Pakistan after arriving in the country to celebrate the harvest festival of Vaisakhi that marks the beginning of the Sikh New Year.
The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had announced that it had issued around 2,200 visas to Indian Sikhs wanting to travel to Pakistan to participate in the annual Vaisakhi celebrations from April 12 to 21. Around 3,000 Sikhs in total had arrived for the festival from around the world, ETPB’s Hasmi said, 1,896 of them from India.
Hundreds of Sikh pilgrims to arrive in Pakistan this month for religious festivals
Hundreds of Sikh pilgrims to arrive in Pakistan this month for religious festivals
- First batch will visit on Friday to participate in annual ‘Jor Mela’ to mark death anniversary of fifth Guru of Sikhism
- Second batch will come on June 27 to pay homage to former Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjeet Singh
Pakistan to hold first nationwide anti-polio drive of 2026 tomorrow
- Trained polio volunteers to vaccinate over 45 million children countywide from Feb. 2-8
- Pakistan reported 31 polio cases in 2025, a significant decline from 74 cases in 2024
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities will launch the first nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year tomorrow, Monday, to vaccinate over 45 million children against the disease, state media reported.
Pakistan recorded a significant decline in polio cases last year compared to 2024, when the South Asian country reported an alarming 74 cases. In 2025, the number of polio cases in Pakistan dropped to 31.
Authorities say the progress in anti-polio efforts reflects strengthened program implementation, enhanced surveillance and improved coordination between federal and provincial stakeholders. This year’s first anti-polio campaign will take place from Feb. 2-8.
“A nationwide anti-polio campaign will begin from tomorrow,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.
“During the campaign, 45 million children under five years of age will be vaccinated with anti-polio drops.”
Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries worldwide where polio remains endemic. Both countries held several vaccination campaigns last year in a bid to eliminate the disease from the country.
Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication Ayesha Raza Farooq said last week that around 400,000 trained polio workers will vaccinate children in the door-to-door campaign.
Pakistani health officials have cited the deteriorating security situation in the country as a major obstacle in its bid to eliminate polio from the country.
Polio workers and their security escorts have repeatedly been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in parts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, complicating efforts to reach every child.
A gun attack targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwestern Bajaur district in December 2025 left one police constable and a civilian dead.
Natural disasters, including flooding, have also disrupted vaccination campaigns in recent years.
