ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued visas to over 2,000 Sikh pilgrims from India to participate in the annual festivities related to the Baisakhi festival.
The pilgrimage will take place from April 9-18, during which the pilgrims will visit Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Panja Sahib, Nankana Sahib, and Kartarpur Sahib.
The main ceremony of Baisakhi, a New Year’s celebration as well as a critical day in the formation of the Sikh religion, will be held at the Gurdwara Panja Sahib shrine in the town of Hasan Abdal in which thousands of Sikhs will perform the cleansing ritual of ashnan, or bathing.
The shrine 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 prophet, established the discipline of Khalsa, through which the faithful can aspire to the ultimate state of purity.
The visit is in accordance with a bilateral protocol on travel to religious places between the two countries, and Pakistani pilgrims also visit India annually under the protocol.
Pakistan’s high commission in India has extended warm greetings to the pilgrims and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to protecting the holy shrines and providing necessary facilities to the pilgrims.
The Sikh pilgrims will enter Pakistan on April 9 and return to India on April 18.
