Chandigarh, Sep 15 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Badal on Monday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to review the advisory to various state governments not to process applications for the pilgrimage to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on the pious occasion of Prakash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev in November.

In a statement here, the SAD President said Sikh pilgrims had undertaken visits to holy shrines in Pakistan under the framework of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of 1950, which explicitly provides for visits by community members to Pakistan’s holy shrines on at least four significant occasions, the most significant of them being the Parkash Gurpurab of Guru Nanak.

Asserting that Sikh pilgrims were desirous of paying homage at Sri Nankana Sahib on this auspicious occasion and not allowing them to do so would hurt their religious feelings, Badal, while calling for a review of the advisory, urged that pilgrims should be allowed to proceed at their own risk.

He said Sikhs had visited Pakistan even during heightened hostilities, and considering the thaw in relations with the resumption of cricketing ties between the two countries, permission should also be granted for pilgrimage to Sikh holy sites in Pakistan.

The SAD President also urged the Home Minister to reopen the Kartarpur Corridor to facilitate pilgrims who wanted to visit Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan. He said the recent reports of flooding of the holy site had disconcerted the community.

“Although the Pakistan government has cleaned the holy site, Sikhs also want to participate in further ‘sewa’ in and around the holy site, which holds a deep emotional and spiritual significance to the entire community,” he said.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had already started the process in July to collect passports of devotees and send applications to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for the visas for the pilgrimage.

However, in a letter sent to the Chief Secretary of Punjab and other states, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs cited the current security situation between India and Pakistan that was unsafe for pilgrims.

–IANS

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