Pakistan set to welcome Sikh pilgrims for Baba Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary

Islamabad: Hundreds of Sikh pilgrims are expected to arrive from all over the world in Pakistan to visit one of their religion’s holiest sites, Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, this month.

“We look forward to hosting devotees from India and around the world” during the upcoming Baba Guru Nanak’s Birthday cele-brations from November 17-26, 2021, the official statement said.

This November marks the second anniversary of the opening of Kartarpur Corridor, known as the “corridor of peace”, connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district. The corridor allows visa-free access to the pilgrims from India.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, 2019. “The magnificent newly built Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur complex was a gift by the people of Pakistan and their leadership to the Sikh community in India and worldwide.”

The Corridor has opened new vistas for the promotion of inter-faith harmony. “Kartarpur Corridor — a corridor of interfaith har-mony that allows India’s Sikh community special access to one of their holiest sites” PM Imran Khan said on Twitter, adding that the corridor reflects his government’s commitment to minority rights and interfaith harmony.

The Kartarpur Corridor was reopened on June 29, 2020 under COVID-19 related protocols after its temporary closure due to the pandemic. With the reopening of international travel globally, Pakistan has asked India to allow Sikh community to visit their holy site Gurdwara Kartarpur. “Pakistan expects that India in the spirit of cooperation would allow pilgrims to travel through the Corridor to visit Kartarpur Sahib” the Foreign Office said in its official statement. Sikh community in Pakistan has also urged India to allow Sikh pilgrims access to the holy site during the birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak - the founder of Sikhism.

Pakistan is home to some of the holiest Sikh sites and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur is believed to have been built on the site in Pakistan’s Narowal district where Guru Nanak breathed his last in the 16th century.