TAXILA: The Sikh Baisakhi festival, also known as the harvest festival, concluded at the Gurdwara Punja Sahib Hassanabdal on Tuesday.

The concluding ceremony was attended by over 10,000 Sikh and Hindu pilgrims, including over 2,000 from India, over 100 from Europe, about 200 from Afghanistan, 100 from UAE and over 14,000 from across Pakistan, including Fata and rural Sindh.

The Gurdwara Punjab Sahib echoed with the Sikh religious slogans of “Wahe guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe guru Ji Ki Fateh” and “Jo bolay so nihal.” Then the followers performed ‘Keerthan’ for their purification and redressal of their problems.

Keerthan was followed by ‘Ardaas’ (Dua) where the participants sought divine forgiveness for their sins. At the end, the religious feast ‘parsad’, a sweet dish, was distributed with slogans of “Jo bolay so Nehal”.

Much jubilation and enthusiasm was seen on the concluding day as the Gurdwara was packed with yatrees wearing colorful dresses.

Speaking as chief guest on the occasion, federal minister for religious affairs Sardar Mohammad Yousuf said minorities enjoyed equal rights in the country and the government would make all-out efforts to look after their religious places.

The PML government would take more steps for religious freedom, betterment of minorities and their religious places.

He said the government believed that minorities were an important part of the country and they should play their role in the development and prosperity of the country.

He said the founder of Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak, preached the values of tolerance, amity, brotherhood and well-being of humanity.

The chairman of the Evacuee Trust Property, Siddiqul Farooq, special assistant to the chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for minority affairs Sardar Soran Singh, president Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Sardar Tara Singh, World Muslim-Sikh Federation president Manmohan Singh and others also spoke.

Later, talking to newsmen the minister said there were no differences between the government and religious circles over seminaries’ registration.

He added that the government and clerics had agreed on the registration of seminaries.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2016