TAXILA: As many as 284 Sikh pilgrims arrived at the Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal from India in the early hours of Friday to observe the 179th death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who was the ruler of Punjab in the 19th century.

The pilgrims were welcomed by officials of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and those of the local administration. The welcome team led by ETPB Deputy Secretary Shrines Imran Gondal and Assistant Commissioner Jannat Hussain Nekokara received the pilgrims at the railway station from where they were taken to the gurdwara.

Officials of the police, Elite Force and the Anti-Terrorist Squad were deployed in the railway station and the gurdwara.

The pilgrims told media personnel on Friday that they were satisfied with the arrangements made for them. A leader of one of the groups, Sardar Balvinder Singh, thanked the Pakistani government for allowing a large number of pilgrims to visit their religious places in Pakistan.

Representative of the Khalsa Mission Committee Dr Darshan Singh said the Sikh pilgrims consider Pakistan their second home land as some of the holiest places in the Sikh religion are situated here. He said the Pakistan government has always been welcoming and has taken good care of Sikh holy sites which is why the country and its people are so dear to Sikhs.

Deputy party leader Sardar Jugmohin Singh said Pakistan is very important for Sikhs because this is where Guru Nanak Dev was born and died.

The Sikh religion began in Lahore in the 15th century, he said, when Guru Nanak Dev began preaching equality.

ETPB’s Imran Gondal said all necessary arrangements have been made for the pilgrims.

He said that after two days at the Gurdwara in Hassanabdal, the pilgrims will proceed to Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib on June 23.

They will proceed to Gurdawara Sacha Sauda in Farooqabad, Sheikhupura on June 25.

The pilgrims will go to Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore on June 26 and Gurdwara Rohri Sahib and Darbar Sahib in Aimanabad and Kartarpur on June 28.

The same day, they will return to Dera Sahib in Lahore and on June 29, they will participate in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death anniversary main Bhog ceremony at Dera Sahib. The pilgrims will return to India on June 30.

“As per the 1974 bilateral protocol between Islamabad and New Delhi, the Pakistani high commission in India has issued visas for between June 21 and June 30,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2018