NAROWAL: The chief min­ister of Indian Punjab, Cha­ranjit Singh Channi, and his cabinet members on Thursday visited Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur and performed religious rituals.

The high-level delegation comprising 37 members arr­ived here via Kartarpur Co­r­r­idor that the Indian aut­horities opened on Wed­n­e­sday after a gap of 20 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Channi and his team were welcomed by Kartar­pur Management Unit chief executive officer Moham­m­ad Latif, Pakistan Sikh Gur­dwara Parbandhak Co­m­mittee (PSGPC) president Sardar Ameer Singh, provincial minister Pir Syed Saeedul Hassan and MPA Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora.

The Indian CM laid a wreath at the resting place of Baba Guru Nanak, visited different parts of Kartarpur and ate bread made from the wheat and vegetables of the fields looked after by Guru Nanak. The gurdwara’s head priest, Sardar Gobind Singh, performed special rituals.

Mr Channi, who returned to India the same day, thanked the government of Pakistan for building a complex housing Gurdwara Darbar Sahib. He also thanked Mr Latif and the PSGPC for arrangements made for the occasion.

Over 90 Sikhs from India, including the CM’s delegation, visited Kartarpur on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) arranged transportation facilities for the visiting Indian pilgrims to Gurdwara Sacha Sauda in Farooqabad where they performed their religious rites.

ETPB Additional Secretary (Shrines) Rana Shahid said foolproof security arrangements had been made for all the visiting Sikhs at Nankana Sahib for the main event in connection with the birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak on Friday (today).

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2021