CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to review the Home Ministry’s advisory to various state governments not to process applications for jathas for pilgrimage to Sri Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on the pious occasion of Prakash Purab of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji in November this year.
In a statement here on Monday, the SAD president said Sikh pilgrims had undertaken visits to holy shrines in Pakistan under the framework of the Nehru–Liaquat Pact of 1950, which explicitly provides for visits by community members to Pakistan’s holy shrines on at least four significant occasions, the most significant of them being the Parkash Gurpurab of Sri Guru Nanak Sahib.
Asserting that Sikh pilgrims were desirous of paying homage at Sri Nankana Sahib on this auspicious occasion and not allowing them to do so would hurt their religious feelings, Mr Sukhbir Badal while calling for a review of the advisory urged that pilgrims should be allowed to proceed at their own risk.
Badal said Sikhs had visited Pakistan even during heightened hostility and considering the thaw in relations with the resumption of cricketing ties between the two countries, permission should also be granted for pilgrimage to Sikh holy sites in Pakistan.
The SAD president also urged the Union home minister to re-open the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate pilgrims who wanted to visit Sri Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan. He said the recent reports of flooding of the holy site had disconcerted the community.
“Although the Pakistan government has cleaned the holy site, Sikhs also want to participate in further ‘sewa’ in and around the holy site which holds a deep emotional and spiritual significance to the entire community.”
Agencies