Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib visited by 2L pilgrims since 2019

New Delhi, July 27

The government has identified 15 shrines in Pakistan for pilgrimage under the India-Pakistan Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

These include 11 gurdwaras with 5,000 Sikh pilgrims from India visiting these shrines over the past one year.

In October 2019, India signed an agreement with Pakistan for the facilitation of pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Shri Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan. Since its inauguration on November 9, 2019, the Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor has been used by around two lakh pilgrims to visit that gurdwara.

On reports regarding vandalism and desecration of places of religious worship belonging to the Sikh community in Pakistan, the government said it had strongly condemned and lodged protests, called upon Pakistan to ensure the safety, security and welfare of the members of minority communities in Pakistan, including their places of worship, and to take immediate measures to expeditiously bring the perpetrators of such acts to justice.

In the background of the recent attacks on Sikhs in Pakistan, the Ministry of External Affairs summoned a senior diplomat of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi and lodged a strong protest against those incidents.