Over 1,300 Sikh yatrees (pilgrims) from India arrived here on Wednesday via the Wagha Railway Station on special trains to attend the 319th Khalsa Janam Din and Besakhi festival at Gurdwara Punja Sahib, Hassanabad.
Evacuee Property Trust Board (EPTB) Chairman Siddiq Ul Farooq, Shrines Additional Secretary Muhammad Tariq, Sardar Tara Singh, and other officials warmly welcomed the Sikh yatrees on their arrival.
Talking to the media, the ETPB chairman said that special security, stay, and food arrangements had been made for the Sikh yatrees. He said that the security of gurdwaras in Pakistan had been enstrusted to the Rangers. He said that the pilgrims’ religion and country could be different but “we are all human.”
He said that the Guru Nanak University in Nankana Sahib and Ghandara University in Taxila were being constructed funds of Rs 1 billion each by the Higher Education Commission.
“Space for Guru Nanak University office has been obtained in the Edhi Complex, Islamabad,” he added.
Responding to a question, he said that the Pakistani people wanted good relations with Indians and hoped for a reduction in the current high-tension situation between both nations.
The Sikh yatrees’ group leader Sardar Balvinder Singh thanked the Pakistani government, ETPB, and the nation for their wonderful welcome and the arrangements made for the yatrees.
Soon after their arrival, the Sikh pilgrims left for Punja Sahib, Hasanabadal where they will stay for three days.
The central ceremony of Besakhi festival will be held there on April 14.
The pilgrims will visit Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahab, on April 15 and the next day, they will visit Sucha Sauda, Farooqabad to perform their annual rituals.
The yatrees will also visit Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore on April 18, before heading off to Kartarpur, Narowal on April 19 and returning to Lahore on the same day.
A seminar titled ‘Besakhi’ will be held at the Aiwan-i-Iqbal in Lahore on April 20 after which the foreign yatrees will return to India on April 21.
