2,100-strong Sikh jatha to visit Pakistan to celebrate Gurpurb of Guru Nanak

A Sikh jatha comprising over 2,100 devotees will travel to Pakistan to celebrate the Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev on November 4. The move follows the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) earlier this month to lift restrictions on cross-border pilgrimages.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has received visas for 1,796 devotees from the Pakistan embassy to undertake the pilgrimage to Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib. They will return on November 13.

This will be the first jatha to go across the border after Operation Sindoor in which India and Pakistan came close to a full-scale war following the Pahalgam terror attack.

Palwinder Singh, incharge, Yatra Vibhag, of the SGPC, said he returned from Delhi today after getting the visas from the Pakistan embassy.

Sources said the total count of devotees who had received visas for the pilgrimage was above 2,100.

He said the jatha had got permission to cross over to Pakistan from November 4 to 13.

Earlier, the Centre had decided against sending a jatha to Pakistan, citing security concerns in the aftermath of the conflict.

On September 12, Sikh bodies, including the SGPC, received a circular from the MHA, stating that “due to the prevailing security concerns, the proposed pilgrimage to Pakistan on the auspicious occasion of the Parkash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev is not currently permitted”.

The Sikh bodies resented the move and tried to convince the government to send at least a symbolic jatha so that the tradition could continue.

Paramjit Singh Chandok, chief adviser of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), and chairman of its yatra sub-committee, welcomed the move. He said “Nanak Nam Lewa Sangat” was deeply attached with Gurdwara Janam Asthan and had waited for around a year to undertake the pilgrimage. He recalled that jathas were never stopped even in 1999 when the Kargil war took place and after the attack on Parliament in 2001. As per a 1974 accord between India and Pakistan, a 3,000-strong jatha, including those recommended by the SGPC (1,800) and the DSGMC (555), travel to Pakistan to commemorate the occasion.