Amid tensions and heavy exchange of firing at the northern borders, the Pakistan high commission announced on Thursday that it has issued visas to as many as 3,316 Sikh pilgrims to attend birthday celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev from November 12 to 21 in Pakistan.
Announcing this, the Pakistan high commission said this was done “in line with Pakistan’s efforts to encourage people-to-people contacts and promote religious tourism”. The high commission had issued more visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims than the number prescribed under the 1974 bilateral protocol, it added.
Guru Nanak Dev was born in 1469 at the present day Nankana Sahib, near Lahore in Pakistan's Punjab province.
Meanwhile, in an indication that Pakistan will attend the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference on Afghanistan in Amritsar in a few weeks, news agencies reported that an official from the Pakistan High Commission attended a seminar in New Delhi held ahead of the event.
The two-day seminar is being held by the International Council for World Affairs in the run-up to the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference in Amritsar in December, which India will co-chair with Afghanistan. There are 13 member countries for the initiative, including Afghanistan, India, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Besides, there are 30 supporting countries which include the US, UK and Germany.
