Pilgrimage
'You are not Sikh': Pakistan bars Indian Hindu pilgrims from entering on Guru Nanak Jayanti, sparks outrage
New Delhi/IBNS: Fourteen Indian citizens, who were part of a group of pilgrims travelling to Nankana Sahib, were denied entry into Pakistan citing they were "Hindus" and "not Sikhs", NDTV reported.
Around 2,100 pilgrims, who were cleared by the Union Home Ministry, were travelling to Nankana Sahib to celebrate Guru Nanak's 556th birth anniversary.
Fourteen people, who were from Delhi and Lucknow, were denied entry even after Pakistan issued travel documents to them.
About 1,900 pilgrims entered Pakistan through Wagah Border but reports claim 14 of them were denied entry.
"You are Hindu… you can't go with Sikh devotees," those fourteen were told as reported by NDTV.
Thisyear's pilgrimage was the first people-to-people contact since India conducted Operation Sindoor to bust the terrorists' hideouts in Pakistan as a revenge of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Inaugurated in 2019, the Kartarpur Corridor allows Indian Sikhs visa-free travel to another key site — Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, where Guru Nanak spent his final years.
Nankana Sahib visits are seen as part of the same spiritual and diplomatic continuum, symbolizing cooperation amid political strain.
It lies in Pakistan’s Punjab province, and Sikh pilgrims primarily come from India, home to the largest Sikh population.
Visits to the shrine often act as a rare diplomatic bridge between the two countries, whose relations are otherwise tense.
Religious pilgrimages here foster people-to-people contact, creating goodwill beyond politics.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
