KARACHI: Sikh pilgrims from Karachi will leave for Narowal and Hasan Abdal on Monday to mark their Eid holidays, chief patron of the Pakistan Sikh Council Sardar Ramesh Singh said on Saturday.

Speaking to Dawn, Singh said that the pilgrims mostly leave Karachi for northern Pakistan during the religious festivals in November for birthday celebrations of Guru Nanak at Nankana Sahib near Lahore and for the festival of Baisakhi at Gurdwara Punja Sahib at Hasan Abdal in April.

“But this is the first time that we decided to get together and visit our religious places during Eid holidays,” he added.

Usually, the pilgrims leave for Hyderabad from where they move on to Punjab. But this time around, seven bogies have been set aside for the Sikh pilgrims which will leave from Karachi at 8am, according to Singh.

The pilgrims will spend three days in Narowal and two days in Darbar Punja Sahib in Hasan Abdal.

The decision came after members of the Sikh community met with a senior officer of the Pakistan Railways, Mohammad Jawed Anwar, in Lahore.

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Anwar said: “The decision is part of our religious tourism [policy].”

He said that the gurdwara in Narowal, Darbar Sahib Kartarpur “is as sacred for the Sikhs as other religious sites in Pakistan. It is believed that before his passing, Guru Nanak sahib spent the last days of his life near the north-east bank of Ravi. It is for this reason that many pilgrims visit this place all year round.”

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2017