TAXILA: Wearing colourful dresses and turbans, Sikh and Hindu pilgrims were seen offering religious rituals at Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal on Wednesday.

Pilgrims from across the globe, including over 2,000 from India, arrived at the gurdwara in Hassanabdal on special trains to celebrate the festival. Strict security measures have been taken by authorities concerned for the protection of these pilgrims.

This is the 323rd ceremony being held to celebrate the birth of the Sikh religion. Pilgrims visit the gurdwara to renew their faith and exercise harmony and brotherhood, enshrined in their religion and the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the Pakistan Gurdwara Committee have invested in renovating and illuminating the main building in the city. Similarly, the local administration has arranged lodging facilities for pilgrims in nearby schools that were vacated.

Most of the pilgrims (from within Pakistan) arrived from Peshawar, Swat, Tando Adam, Larkana, Sukkur, Badin, Umerkot, Karachi and Lahore.

Baisakhi celebrations in Pakistan have a special significance as the country is the birthplace of founder of the Sikh religion, Baba Guru Nanak. Pilgrims, carrying flowers and offerings in their hands, proceed towards gurdwaras and temples before dawn.

This event is observed every year on the first day of Baisakh, the fifth month of the Bikrami calendar (April 12).

In 1921, it was decided by elders of the Sikh religion that the festival will be celebrated on the first day of the Sanskrit month of Baisakh in memory of the day of the first Baisakh in the year 1699 when the 10th guru of the Sikh religion awarded the ‘Punj Kaaf’ slot and symbol to Guru Gobind.

Ravinder Singh Khalsa, a representative of the largest Indian Sikh group Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), told journalists that the pilgrims always bring a message of peace, friendship and harmony to Pakistan and receive a friendly response from the people here.

“Pakistan is the land of Sikh Gurus, so Sikhs love this land and want to promote Sikh-Muslim friendship,” he said, adding there should be more contact between the people of Pakistan and India.

Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee Chief Sardar Sukhbir Singh expressed his gratitude to the government and people for their love and hospitality towards Sikh pilgrims. “We feel like we have come to our second home,” he said, adding the culture, language and way of life in Punjab is the same in India and Pakistan. Sikhs think of Punjabis on the other side of the border as their brothers, he added.

Another pilgrim from Amritsar Sardar Gurmeet Singh said, “Our worship places are well maintained, and that is the reason that we feel secure among our brothers.”

ETPB Deputy Secretary Imran Gondal said Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee with collaboration with ETPB made special arrangements for the boarding and lodging of the pilgrims. He said the pilgrims had been housed in various rooms of the gurdwara and nearby schools, where free food was being provided to them, as well as lockers for safekeeping of their documents and valuables during their stay.

Meanwhile, one of the pilgrims died of cardiac arrest during his journey towards Hassanabdal while he was on train. According to sources, the deceased was identified as Nashabar Singh.

Officials of ETPB said arrangements were made through consultation of the Indian embassy in Islamabad for repatriation of the body of the deceased Sikh pilgrim through Wagah Border.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2022