Pakistan issues over 1,100 visas to Indian Sikhs for Vaisakhi religious festival

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued over 1,100 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India on the occasion of the religious Vaisakhi festival, the foreign office in Islamabad said on Wednesday.
Vaisakhi, also spelled Baisakhi, marks the beginning of the Sikh new year, and is observed with prayer services in gudwaras, or Sikh temples. It is celebrated on April 13 or 14 every year and also marks the day when Gobind Singh, the 10th and final prophet, ended the concentration of Sikh leadership in one human and established the order of Khalsa, baptized Sikhs, who were to be guided by the holy scripture, known as the Adi Granth, and who were to follow precepts of belief, behavior and dress.
Hundreds of Indian Sikhs come to Pakistan each year to celebrate Vaisakhi at one of their religion’s holiest shrines in the northern city of Hasanabdal — the Panja Sahib shrine, about 35km west of the capital Islamabad.
“The High Commission for Pakistan in India has issued over 1100 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India to participate in the annual Baisakhi celebrations from 12-22 April 2021,” the Pakistani High Commission said in a statement on Wednesday evening. “Under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974, a large number of Sikh Yatrees from India visit Pakistan to observe various religious festivals/occasions every year.”
The government of Pakistan had issued the visas as a “special gesture” in view of the importance of Vaisakhi for Punjabis and Sikhs, the foreign office said, and reflected “the commitment of the Government of Pakistan to faithfully implement the bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines” signed between Pakistan and India.
In November 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan formally inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor, which provides visa-free access from India to the Pakistani town of Kartarpur, home to a temple that marks the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, died.