15 April 2005	Friday	04 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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SHEIKHUPURA, April 14: More than 10,000 Sikh pilgrims from home and abroad are expected to reach Nankana Sahib on Friday to attend the Baisakhi festival at Gurdawara Janam Asthan. The event will start from April 15 and conclude on April 17. The government has taken security measures for visitors. Special contingents of law-enforcement agencies would be deployed at important spots of the city. Temporary police pickets have also been set up near the main entrance of the Gurdawara Janam Asthan.

Arrangements have also been finalized for smooth traffic. District Police Officer Shahid Iqbal said bomb disposal squad, ambulances, doctors and paramedical staff would be present at the gurdawara during the festival. He said the city had been divided into five sectors to avert any untoward incident.

DCO Sheikh Zafar Iqbal said every possible facility would be provided to pilgrims.

He said special stalls had been set up to entertain the pilgrims at the railway station and other adjoining places of the gurdawara. Officials of the Evacuee Properties Trust Board (EPTB), Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee, local parliamentarians, nazims and the district administration will welcome them at the gurdawara.

Federal standing committee on law, justice and human rights Chairman MNA Rai Mansib Ali Khan told Dawn that the government had made elaborate arrangements for Sikh pilgrims.

Meanwhile, talking to press, some pilgrims from India said it was a great honour for them to come to their gurus’ land.