Pakistan Sikh Worship Places

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Upon arrival in Pakistan, Navjot Singh Sidhu says Imran Khan is his ‘elder brother’

Sidhu arrives in Pakistan today via Kartarpur Corridor to take part in the annual commemoration of the birth of Guru Nanak

By Web Desk
November 20, 2021

Navjot Singh Sidhu is performing religious rituals in Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.

KARTARPUR: Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Imran Khan for facilitating Sikhs on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and for the rousing welcome to him upon his arrival in Pakistan, prominent Indian politician and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu said the premier is his "elder brother".

Sidhu arrived in Pakistan today (Saturday) via the Kartarpur Corridor to take part in the annual commemoration of the birth of Guru Nanak.


On behalf of PM Imran Khan, chief executive officer of the Kartarpur Corridor Project Management Unit welcomed Sidhu upon arrival in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Sidhu thanked the prime minister for the warm welcome.

In a tweet shared by Indian Express, Sidhu can be seen entering Pakistan via Kartarpur Corridor. The former Indian cricketer-turned politician says, “He [PM Imran Khan] is my elder brother.”
Later, he visited Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and performed religious rituals.

Prominent Indian politicians visit Gurdwara Sahib

On November 18, important Indian politicians, including the Indian Punjab chief minister, visited the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, a day before Gurpurab, which marks the birth anniversary of Sikhism founder Baba Guru Nanak.

The Kartarpur Corridor, which links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district, was reopened on Wednesday.

Pilgrimage to the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indian Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, along with his ministers, were part of the first delegation to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.

Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) president Sardar Ameer Singh had greeted and received them on their arrival.

 

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Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib Kartarpur Corridor Pakistan

2021 - Drone Aerial View 4K

 

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Baba Guru Nanak met hungry Sadhus on his way during a trade mission. He established a Langar (free kitchen) there for the poor. When inquired by his father, young Nanak called his act as 'true trade' (Sacha Sauda) by saying he had made best profits out of money by feeding poor.

 

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Gurdwara Sacha Sauda is one the most sacred sites in Sikhism.
This gurdwara was built to mark the place where founder of Sikhism, Baba Guru Nanak preached the message of true trade (sacha sauda) by establishing a community kitchen for less privileged...

 

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued over 2,200 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims to participate in the annual festival — Baisakhi celebrations — scheduled to be held in Pakistan from 12-21 April.

According to a statement of Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi, the issuance of visas is covered under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974.

Every year, it added that a large number of Sikh yatrees from India visit Pakistan to observe various religious festivals/occasions. The visas issued from New Delhi are in addition to the visas granted to Sikh pilgrims participating in these events from other countries, it added.

“The issuance of pilgrimage visas to religious pilgrims by the High Commission is in line with the Government of Pakistan’s commitment to fully implement the bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines between the two countries,” according to the statement.

Expressing his views on the auspicious occasion, Charge d’Affaires Aftab Hasan Khan, extended his heartfelt felicitations to the pilgrims and wished them a rewarding and fulfilling yatra. Pakistan takes immense pride in preserving sacred religious places and providing necessary facilitation to the visiting pilgrims, he added.

During the visit, it added that the pilgrims would, inter alia, go to Panja Sahib, Nankana Sahib, and Kartarpur Sahib. They would enter Pakistan on 12 April and return back to India on 21 April 2022, the statement added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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A gurdwara worth the seven-decade wait​

Muhammad Akbar Notezai
May 29, 2022

The recently reopened Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, said to be two centuries old, has proven to be a source of immense joy for the Sikh community in Balochistan’s capital after its restoration.—Photos by the writer

Quetta .:There is something poetic to be said about the lively gurdwara on Masjid Road, in the heart of the Quetta valley. The recently reopened Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha [ZS1] has proven to be a source of immense joy for the Sikh community, who continue to visit from all over the province ever since it started hosting religious activities again.

Like other religious groups, Sikhs had been living in Balochistan for centuries. But for many, their long roots in Baloch soil were severed at the time of Partition, when they, like the local Hindus, were attacked and subsequently forced to flee east. Reena Nanda, author of From Quetta to Delhi: A Partition Story, notes incidents of the properties of Hindus and Sikhs being damaged and community members being assaulted in Quetta. Thankfully though, Balochistan was lucky to avoid bloodshed at the scale seen elsewhere during that fraught time.

Following the migration of most of the Hindus and Sikhs from the province, their properties and religious places were taken over and administered by the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB). Despite it being the ETPB’s responsibility to safeguard these properties, many were occupied by land grabbers or converted into government buildings, depriving those who chose to stay in Pakistan of their rightful places of worship.

It took more than seven decades of waiting before the Sikhs community could once again call the Quetta gurdwara their own. The place of worship, said to be 200 years old, had been used as an APWA Government Girls High School since the creation of Pakistan in 1947. It was restored to the Sikh community in 2020.

Sardar Raj Singh Khalsa, in his late 50s, said he had wished to worship in the ancient gurdwara all his life. “The wish has been fulfilled now,” he told this correspondent. “I am in a state of bliss.”

Attired in plain white clothes set off with a yellow turban, he strolled around the courtyard of the gurdwara. He has been a regular since its restoration. His family of seven still lives in Jhat Pat — now named Dera Allah Yar — in the Jafferabad district of Balochistan, along with a small number of other Sikh families.

He tells this correspondent that he used to visit the gurdwara on each visit to Quetta, even when it was still a school.

“I made a wish on each visit: that it be restored to us,” he recalled. “Following its reopening, I feel like we have been re-attached to our religious roots back in our own land.”

Jasbir Singh, chairman of the Sikh community in Balochistan, sits in his office inside the gurdwara attending to visitors.

“Due to our petition, the Balochistan government handed our gurdwara over to us after 73 years,” he said, putting his hands on the table. “We, the Sikh community, welcome the government’s move. It has fulfilled our long-lasting wish.”

Sikh visitors from outside of the province have also been visiting to worship. Sardar Shankar, who hails from Punjab, explained it thus: “I feel like I have returned home after a long time.”

Baloch Sikhs, including women and children, make up most of the visitors, some having travelled from remote parts of the province. Most of those who spoke to this correspondent described the gurdwara’s reopening as a shining example of religious harmony in Balochistan, which has remained traditionally pluralist.

Like the Sikhs, the Hindus go back centuries and have their own ancient temples in the province. One of them is the Hinglaj temple in Lasbela. The provincial government of Balochistan recently handed over another ancient temple to the Hindu community in Zhob. Like the gurdwara in Quetta, the temple had been used as a government school for over 30 years, but the school has now been shifted to another place.

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2022

 

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Nearly 3,000 Sikh pilgrims arrive to celebrate Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary​

ETPB made all the arrangements to facilitate the Indian pilgrims who arrived via Wagah Border

APP
November 08, 2022

Pakistan is hosting around 3,000 Sikh pilgrims, arrived from India through Wagah Border. PHOTO: APP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is hosting around 3,000 Sikh pilgrims, arrived from India through Wagah Border to celebrate the 553rd birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak in Kartarpur on Tuesday.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) has made all the arrangements, including security, accommodation, medical and transportation to facilitate the pilgrims.

On the directions of ETPB Chairman Abdul Rehman Ghilani, the officers and employees of the board would remain busy day and night to serve the guests.

Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal visited Gurdwara Janam Asthan to felicitate the Sikh pilgrims and said that Baba Guru Nanak taught the lesson of harmony and tolerance.

The Kartarpur corridor connects Pakistani and Indian Punjab, the place of Sikhism.

The Corridor was inaugurated on November 9, 2018, allowing visa-free access to Sikh pilgrims from India to visit the holy shrine.

The establishment of the corridor reflected Pakistan’s continued commitment to facilitating Sikh pilgrims and was in line with the government’s efforts to promote religious tourism.

Since 1947, Sikh community of India and across the world was desirous of the access to the Gurdwara because it is just about 4-5 kilometres from Pakistan-India border. Kartarpur Corridor is functioning under a MoU between Pakistan and India, which allowed 5,000 yatrees (Sikh pilgrims) to enter from the Indian side on a daily basis.

The founder of Sikh religion Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur. The Gurdwara is considered to be the most sacred shrine of Sikh religion.

His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak Pooranmashi ‘full-moon of Kattak’.

The pilgrims will return to the India through Wagha border on November 15.

 

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A few pictures of Gurdwara Dera sahib, Narowal , Kartarpur..

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There is a grave of Guru Nanak which Muslims made and Samadhi which Sikhs made.

 

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Pakistan issues 2,856 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims​

Recorder

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has issued 2,856 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims to participate in the Baisakhi festivities in Pakistan from April 09-18, 2023.

Pakistan High Commission, New Delhi, stated in a statement that on the occasion of Baisakhi, it has issued 2,856 visas to Sikh pilgrims who will travel from India to participate in the annual festivities in Pakistan from 09-18 April 2023.

The issuance of visas was covered under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974.


Every year, a large number of Sikh Yatrees from India visit Pakistan to observe various religious festivals and occasions.

The issuance of visas to religious pilgrims by the High Commission was in line with the government of Pakistan’s commitment to fully implement the Bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines between the two countries.

In his remarks on the occasion, Pakistan’s Charge d’Affaires Salman Sharif extended his heartfelt felicitations to the pilgrims and wished them a rewarding and fulfilling journey.

He further stated that Pakistan remained committed to preserving sacred religious places and providing necessary facilitation to visiting pilgrims.

During the visit, the pilgrims would, inter alia, go to Dera Sahib, Panja Sahib, Nankana Sahib, and Kartarpur Sahib. They would enter Pakistan on April 9 and return to India on April 18.