Indian Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, along with members of his cabinet, reached Darbar Sahib Kartarpur to participate in Guru Nanak’s 552nd birthday celebrations.
The 15-member visiting delegation included Indian Punjab deputy CM Om Parkash Soni, Manpreet Singh Badal, Vijay Inder Singla, Rana Gurjit Singh, along with Indian government officials and their families and children. Indian politician and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu would be visiting Kartarpur on Saturday, said his spokesperson.
Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee head Sardar Ameer Singh and government officials welcomed the guests at the entry point 4.7km from Kartarpur near Dera Baba Nanak Gurdaspur, India. The founder of Sikhism spent the last 18 years of his life at the site. After paying their respects to Guru Nanak, the visitors would leave the Gurdwara on the same day, said Ameer Singh.
An Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) official told Minute Mirror that around 52 Sikh pilgrims were expected to visit Kartarpur on Thursday, a day after the official re-opening of the visa-free stretch. Pakistan and India agreed to re-open the entry point on Wednesday after 20 months of its inauguration, on 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, which has been scheduled to start on Friday at dawn and would culminate on November 26. The corridor was inaugurated by the prime ministers of Pakistan and India unilaterally in their respective countries in November 2019 but was closed to curb the pandemic’s spread in March 2020. Over 100 pilgrims visited the Darbar Sahib on the first day of re-opening.
Around 8,000 Sikhs across the world would be arriving in Pakistan to participate in one of the most important events of Sikhism.
Pakistan High Commission (PHC) tweeted on Thursday that a total of 2,443 Indian Sikh yatrees reached Pakistan through Wagah border to attend the week-long celebrations. The visitors were accorded warm welcome by the government officials and Sikh leaders of Pakistan on their arrival at Wagah. PHC wished a rewarding yatra to the Sikh devotees who were visiting the country
Guru Nanak Jayanti (birth), also called Gurpurab, is the most important festival for Sikhs. The festival is celebrated on the day of Kartik Poornima, which is the 15th lunar day in the month of Kartik according to the Hindu calendar, and usually falls in the month of November by the Gregorian calendar. This year, the date falls on November 19.
The pilgrims, who include children and women, are being provided full security, accommodation, and transport facilities by the government. They would visit different gurdwaras, including Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Sacha Soda Farooqabad, Sheikhupura, Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur and Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore, during their stay in Pakistan.
Sikh pilgrims declared the arrangements as excellent and called Pakistan their second home.
Pakistan Television quoted an Indian yatree as saying that he came to Pakistan for the third time and found the preparations outstanding.
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