ISLAMABAD – Over 2,200 Sikh pilgrims from India arrived here on Friday tocelebrate Baisakhi festival at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal city ofPakistan’s Punjab province. The pilgrims, who arrived at Wagah railwaystation by two special trains, were received by Secretary of the EvacueeTrust Property Board (ETPB) Tariq Khan and Pakistan Gurdwara ParbandhakCommittee president Sardar Tara Singh.
The ETPB looks after the holy places of the minority community in thecountry.
Gurdwara Panja Sahib has a handprint of the founder of Sikhism, Guru NanakDev, on a boulder of the shrine.
“A total 2,206 Sikh pilgrims have arrived here from India on two specialtrains. After immigration they left for Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hasan Abdalin Attock district, about 40 km from Rawalpindi,” ETPB spokesman AmirHashmi told PTI.
Baisakhi is celebrated to mark the beginning of a new harvest season. Underthe framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrinesof 1974. Every year, a large number of Sikh pilgrims from India visitPakistan to observe various religious festivals and occasions. He saidspecial security arrangements have been made for them and elite force andrangers are deployed along with them for their security.
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Hasmi said the pilgrims will also visit other gurdwaras in Punjab province,including Gurdawa Janamasthan Nankana Sahib, during their 10-day stay here.
They will leave for India on April 21, he added.
