ISLAMABAD: The 556th birth anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikh religion, began in the eastern Pakistani city of Nankana Sahib on Monday, Pakistani state media reported.
The Pakistan High Commission has issued more than 2,100 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims to participate in the celebrations in the first major allowance after travel between India and Pakistan was frozen during their four-day conflict in May.
Indian newspapers reported on Saturday that the government would allow “selected” groups to travel for the festival as tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad since the standoff that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
Tens of thousands of Sikh pilgrims are expected to flock to Pakistan’s Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Baba Guru Nanak some 85 kilometers (52 miles) west of the country’s border with India.
“During their pilgrimage, the Sikh Yatrees (pilgrims) will pay homage at Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hassan Abdal, and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Narowal,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported on Sunday.
The main ceremony marking Baba Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary will take place at Gurdwara Janam Asthan on Wednesday, according to the report. All arrangements related to security, transport, accommodation and food have been completed, with special teams made by the Pakistan’s Evacuee Trust Property Board.
Every year Sikh pilgrims travel from India to Pakistan through the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor, which links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the final resting place of Baba Guru Nanak, near Narowal in Pakistan’s Punjab with Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Gurdaspur district. The corridor is a rare sign of cooperation between the bitter nuclear-armed neighbors.
Much of the Sikh heritage is located in Pakistan. When Pakistan was carved out of India at the end of British rule in 1947, Kartarpur ended up on the Pakistani side of the border, while most of the region’s Sikhs remained on the other side. For more than seven decades, the Sikh community had lobbied for easier access to its holiest temple and Pakistan’s decision to open the corridor in 2019 earned widespread international appreciation.
