• Thursday, March 28, 2024

HEADLINE STORY

Sikh pilgrims elated as Kartarpur corridor reopens

The Shrine of Baba Guru Nanak Dev at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib is seen in Pakistan’s town of Kartarpur near the Indian border on November 8, 2019. – A corridor that will allow Sikhs to cross from India into Pakistan to visit one of the religion’s holiest sites is set to open on November 9, with thousands expected to make a pilgrimage interrupted by decades of conflict. (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI / AFP) (Photo by AAMIR QURESHI/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Shubham Ghosh

A ‘JATHA‘ (group of pilgrims) of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex gurdwara body, on Wednesday (17) left for Pakistan from Amritsar in the northern Indian state of Punjab to pay obeisance to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib and other gurdwaras through the Kartarpur corridor that reopened the same day. Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan is one of the holiest shrines of the Sikh community where Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, said to have died in the 16th century.

“We are going on a nine-day trip. We will be visiting Kartar Pur Sahib, Nankana Sahib, Dera Sacha Sauda, Dera sahib,” Gruvinder Singh, a pilgrim, told Asian News International.

ALSO READ: Kartarpur corridor to reopen, Punjab leaders thank PM Modi

“We are very happy. We are very grateful to the government for opening the gurdwara,” said another pilgrim.

Local people at Dera Baba Nanak of Punjab’s Gurdaspur welcomed the Narendra Modi government’s decision to reopen the corridor for Sikh pilgrimage a couple of days ahead of the 552nd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

“It is a welcome step. People have been eagerly waiting to offer prayers at the shrine (Gurdwara Darbar Sahib),” Triclochan Singh, a local resident of Dera Baba Nanak told ANI.

“Due to COVID -19, it was closed. We wholeheartedly welcome the decision of the government. The whole Punjab and India are extremely happy after its opening,” Ashwini Kumar, a local resident, told the news outlet.

“We were very hopeful that the Modi government would soon open the corridor. We are grateful to the prime minister for taking this step,” Sudhir Bedi, another local resident, said.

The Land Ports Authority of India also welcomed the move to reopen the corridor.

“First two pilgrims were given warm send-off at ICP gate by the Manager ICP. The pilgrimage to Gurudwara Darbar Sahib through Kartarpur Corridor formally commences today. Gurudwara Prabandhak Samiti welcomed them across the border,” tweeted the Land Ports Authority of India on Wednesday.

The corridor was shut in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The visa-free 4.7-kilometre-long corridor joins the Indian border to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan. It became operational in 2019.

Indian daily Hindustan Times cited the local police as saying that around 3,000 pilgrims were expected to cross to Pakistan on Wednesday.

“The pilgrims have started crossing the border. The exact number of pilgrims going to celebrate Gurpurb will be known by evening,” a Punjab Police protocol officer at Attari border told the daily.

All pilgrims faced the mandatory Covid-19 test before departure.

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