India allows Sikh pilgrimage to Pakistan after COVID-19

Sikh pilgrims collect their passports from a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) official in Amritsar on November 16, 2021 as they travel to Pakistan to celebrate the 552nd birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev. (AFP)
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Updated 16 November 2021
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India allows Sikh pilgrimage to Pakistan after COVID-19

  • Indian home minister Amit Shah says New Delhi’s decision to reopen Kartarpur corridor will benefit large numbers of Sikh devotees
  • Pakistan maintains it never closed its side of the visa-free crossing and was waiting for the Indian government to allow Sikh pilgrims to cross

NEW DELHI: India gave the green light for thousands of Sikh pilgrims to cross the border into Pakistan from Wednesday ahead of the birth anniversary of the religion’s founder Guru Nanak.
The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free crossing allowing Indian Sikhs to visit the temple in Pakistan where Guru Nanak died in 1539, first opened in 2019 for Nanak’s 550th birth anniversary but was closed last year because of the pandemic.
India’s Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the corridor will re-open from Wednesday ahead of Nanak’s birth anniversary celebrations this Friday.
“In a major decision, that will benefit large numbers of Sikh pilgrims, PM @narendramodi govt has decided to re-open the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor from tomorrow,” he said on Twitter.
“I am sure that (the) govt’s decision to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib corridor will further boost the joy and happiness across the country,” Shah added.




Sikh pilgrims collect their passports from a Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) official in Amritsar on November 16, 2021 as they travel to Pakistan to celebrate the 552nd birth anniversary of Sri Guru Nanak Dev. (AFP)

A Pakistani official source said the corridor had never been closed on the Pakistan side, and that they were waiting for confirmation from Indian authorities that the pilgrims would be allowed to cross.
The white-domed shrine in Kartarpur, a small town just four kilometers (2.5 miles) inside Pakistan, had remained out of reach of Indian Sikhs for decades because of hostile relations between the two countries.
When Pakistan was carved out of India at the end of British rule in 1947, Kartarpur ended up on the Pakistan side of the border, while most of the region’s Sikhs remained on the other side.
There are an estimated 20,000 Sikhs left in Pakistan after millions fled to India following the bloody religious violence ignited by partition.
Guru Nanak, born in 1469 to a Hindu family near the present-day Pakistani city of Lahore, is revered both by Sikhs and Hindus who prepare community feasts known as langars to mark his birth anniversary.


Pakistan cricket chief says boycott of India match aimed at restoring Bangladesh’s dignity

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Pakistan cricket chief says boycott of India match aimed at restoring Bangladesh’s dignity

  • Mohsin Naqvi says Pakistan sought to highlight Bangladesh’s grievances in World Cup dispute
  • His comments come a day after Pakistan reversed decision to boycott the Feb. 15 India clash

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s decision to briefly threaten a boycott of its Twenty20 World Cup match against India was intended to highlight what it saw as unfair treatment of Bangladesh and to press for the concerns raised by Bangladeshi officials to be addressed, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Tuesday.

Pakistan withdrew its decision a day earlier to skip the Group A clash scheduled for Feb. 15 in Colombo, ending a week-long standoff with the International Cricket Council (ICC) that had drawn intervention from several member boards amid fears of disruption to the tournament.

“Our objective was only to ensure that Bangladesh was treated with dignity and that the injustice done to them was highlighted,” Naqvi told journalists in Peshawar. “You saw that whatever points Bangladesh raised were accepted. That’s it. We had no personal agenda of our own in this.”

Bangladesh had raised security concerns about playing its World Cup matches in India amid political tensions between the two countries and sought the relocation of its fixtures to Sri Lanka, a request that was turned down by the ICC. Subsequently, Bangladesh chose to withdraw from the tournament and were replaced by Scotland instead.

Pakistan cited Bangladesh’s removal from the original schedule as unjust when it initially instructed its team not to face India, a move that would have resulted in a forfeiture.

The decision led to a crisis situation since the India-Pakistan match is the biggest and most lucrative clash in the world of cricket, leading to a frantic weekend of negotiations.

The reversal allows Pakistan to proceed with the marquee India match after Bangladesh’s concerns were accommodated by the ICC, Naqvi said.

Pakistan, who edged past the Netherlands in their opening game, face the United States today in Group A, with India set to travel to Colombo for the Feb. 15 clash.

Pakistan and India, bitter political rivals, have not played bilateral cricket for more than a decade and meet only at global tournaments at neutral venues.