ISLAMABAD: Over 3,000 Sikh pilgrims landed in Pakistan from India on Saturday to commemorate the Baisakhi harvest festival, according to Pakistani official media.
Sikhs are a tiny minority headquartered in the Punjab area, which is divided between Muslim-majority Pakistan and Hindu-majority India, however some Sikh sacred sites ended up in Pakistan during the Subcontinent’s division in 1947.
Baisakhi, a spring harvest festival celebrated predominantly in Punjab and northern India, marks the start of the Sikh New Year and represents spiritual regeneration, with festivities concentrated on Gurdwara Panja Sahib near Hasan Abdal, some 45 kilometers northwest of Islamabad.
“Over three thousand Sikh yatrees [pilgrims] from India arrived [in] Pakistan through the Wagha border today,” the state-run Radio Pakistan station stated. “The officials of Evacuee Trust Property Board received the yatrees.”
The shrine at Hasan Abdal is one of Sikhism’s holiest places, with the handprint of the religion’s founder, Guru Nanak, said to be imprinted on a boulder there.
Vaisakhi is also commemorated as the day Gobind Singh, the 10th and final guru of Sikhism, instituted the discipline of Khalsa, which allows the faithful to strive to the ultimate condition of purity.
According to the article, Sikh pilgrims would visit sacred sites in Lahore, including Hasan Abdal, Nankana Sahib, Narowal, Eminabad, and Badami Bagh.
The EPTB has completed all arrangements for the pilgrims, including lodging, security, and transportation.
Maria Ghanchi