TAXILA: Indian Sikhs will visit Pakistan on schedule for the Besakhi festival despite ongoing border tensions with India, for which around 3,000 visas are expected to be issued.

Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Deputy Secretary Shrines Imran Gondal told Dawn at Gurdwara Punja Sahib on Tuesday that the visit has not been rescheduled and the number of visas has not been reduced.

The pilgrims are scheduled to visit Pakistan on April 12, he confirmed.

He said the ETPB, the Gurdwara Prabandhak committee and other departments have expedited arrangements to provide the visiting pilgrims better facilities.

Under the 1950s agreement between India and Pakistan, 3,000 Sikhs will be granted visas.

However, the government has told its embassy in New Delhi that visas should be issued even if more than 3,000 requests are received, he said.

Mr Gondal added that pilgrims will travel to Pakistan aboard special trains to the Wagah railway station. They will be driven to Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal the same day he said.

“The main Bhog Akhand Paath ceremony will be held at Gurdwara Punja Sahib on April 14, and the Sikh pilgrims who will come from all around the world will also celebrate the Khalsa Janam Din here,” he said.

The pilgrims will leave for the Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib on April 15.

“They will also visit the Gurdwara Sacha Sauda, Farooqabad, on April 17,” he said. “On April 18, they will visit the Gurdwara Dehra Sahib Sri Guru Arjan Dev, Lahore, and on April 19, the pilgrims will visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur and Gurdwara Rori Sahib, Aimenabad.”

Indian pilgrims will visit Lahore on April 20, and return to India April 21.

He said the groundwork for the distribution of free meals, accommodation, medical and travel facilities has been accelerated.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2019