The three-day festivities will begin on Nov 14 at the Gurdwara Janam Asthan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, in Nankana Sahib.
The officials of the Evacuee Trust Property Board and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee greeted the guests, who arrived here by three special trains. The trains arrived a few hours behind their schedule time.
The visitors include 1,620 Sikhs of the Shurmani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, and 900 of the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee.
Amid rose petal showers several pilgrims crossed the border barefoot in the sanctity of the land, which is the birthplace of the founder of their religion. Welcome banners were displayed along the route and the pilgrims were chanting peace slogans.
A large number of women are visiting Pakistan for the first time. They left for the Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassan Abdaal soon after their arrival.
Several pilgrims, who brought blankets for the quake victims, expressed their deep grief over the tragedy in Kashmir and the NWFP.
They also expressed their desire to visit the quake victims in Lahore hospitals. “It is a catastrophe and all countries should extend their help in the rehabilitation of the affected people,” said an elderly Taran Jeet Kaur while talking to Dawn.
She said the Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the aspirations of Kashmiris.
SGPCA leader Makhan Singh Nangal welcomed the opening of two points between the Kashmirs (Azad and Occupied) and urged the government of India to open the remaining points as well so that the people of the occupied Kashmir could take part in the rehabilitation.
He said the bus service between Lahore and Amritsar should be started without any delay. He urged the governments to launch a bus service between Jammu and Sialkot as well so that they could reach their holy places in Punjab directly.
Shurmani Khalsa Punchaiat convener Ranjinder Singh complained that the pilgrims had to face problems in obtaining visas, and urged the governments to lift unnecessary curbs. He said the authorities should also grant them visas to the NWFP so that they could visit their gurdwaras.
Bibi Narindar Kaur from Amritsar said the peace efforts could continue only if no hurdles were created in people-to-people contract. She said certain elements of both sides did not want a lasting peace (between the two countries). She was of the view that the governments apparently seemed sincere in developing cordial relations.
Gurbachan Singh, an agriculturist from Amritsar, said he wished to visit his native town in Faisalabad. “My town carries my childhood memories as I was in Class-IV when my family had migrated to India during partition.”
The pilgrims expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the ETPB and PSGPC. They will also visit the Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore, Gurdwara Succha Soda in Farooqabad and the Gurdwara Rohri Sahib in Aimanabad. The Indian Sikhs will leave for home on Nov 19.
Besides, some 1,500 pilgrims have arrived here from different countries like Europe, the Middle East, America, Canada and Afghanistan so far.
Thousands of local Sikhs and Hindus from Swat, Mangora, Karachi, Kashmore, Mardan, Rawalpindi, Para Chanar and other cities will also attend the festival.
The ETPB has taken strict measures for their security. Under the plan, no vehicle would be allowed on the premises of any of five major gurdwaras in the province.