ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued more than 6,500 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims for the Baisakhi festival this month, the Pakistani high commission in New Delhi said on Monday.
Baisakhi, the spring harvest festival primarily celebrated in Punjab and northern India, marks the beginning of the Sikh New Year and symbolizes spiritual rejuvenation, with celebrations centered around Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal, some 45 kilometers northwest of Islamabad.
Sikhs are a small minority based in the Punjab region that is divided between Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India, but several Sikh holy sites ended up being in Pakistan after the partition of the Subcontinent in 1947.
The annual festival is scheduled to be held in Pakistan on April 10-19, with pilgrims expected to visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
“The large number of visas issued by the Government of Pakistan is a manifestation of our policy to foster harmony and promote understanding between peoples, cultures and religions,” Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires was quoted as saying by the country’s high commission in New Delhi.
“Pakistan would continue to facilitate such visits to sacred and holy sites.”
The shrine in Hasan Abdal is one of Sikhism’s holiest sites and it is believed that the handprint of the founder of the religion, Guru Nanak, is imprinted on a boulder there.
Baisakhi is also meant to mark the day when Gobind Singh, the 10th and final guru of Sikhism, established the discipline of Khalsa, through which the faithful can aspire to the ultimate state of purity.
Every year, a large number of Yatrees from India visit Pakistan to observe various religious festivals under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974.
Pakistan issues over 6,500 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims for Baisakhi festival
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Pakistan issues over 6,500 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims for Baisakhi festival
- Baisakhi, the spring harvest festival, marks the beginning of the Sikh New Year and symbolizes spiritual rejuvenation
- Indian pilgrims will be visiting Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan
On Qatar’s National Day, Pakistan hails Doha as global ‘emissary of peace’
- PM says Pakistan stood with Qatar after Israeli airstrike, notes Doha backed Islamabad during May conflict with India
- Doha has recently facilitated de-escalation talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan after border clashes this year
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday praised Qatar as one of the region’s most active diplomatic mediators, calling Doha an “emissary of peace” during an address at a ceremony to mark Qatar’s National Day in Islamabad.
Sharif’s remarks come after Qatar led negotiations aimed at easing the Gaza conflict, working with nations like the United States to reach a ceasefire and secure humanitarian pauses and prisoner exchanges. Doha also facilitated de-escalation talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan after border clashes earlier this year, underscoring its growing role as a crisis mediator across the region.
Pakistan has also aligned closely with Qatar in recent months. Sharif visited Doha in a show of solidarity after Israel’s airstrikes on the country in September, while Qatar publicly supported Pakistan during a brief military conflict with India in May, which Islamabad has highlighted as evidence of a deepening two-way partnership.
“Pakistan deeply appreciates Qatar’s distinguished and long-standing role as the emissary of peace, a nation that has repeatedly opened doors for dialogue, helped defuse tensions, and encouraged reconciliation with the noble aim of fostering peace and stability in the region and beyond,” Sharif said during his National Day address.
He described Qatar as a “brotherly country of Pakistan” with “very strong fraternal and friendly relations,” noting that bilateral engagement spans energy security, defense cooperation, trade and investment. More than 150,000 Pakistanis live and work in Qatar, contributing to its economy and remitting income back home, while Qatari investments in Pakistan’s real estate, infrastructure and renewable energy sectors have expanded.
Sharif said he had traveled to Doha twice this year, first to convey Pakistan’s solidarity after the Israeli airstrike on Doha on September 9, 2025, and again for the Arab-Islamic Summit, and stressed that Islamabad stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Doha in pursuit of regional stability.
