A day after giving the green signal to the Kartarpur corridor in agreement with Pakistan, India on Friday lodged a protest against Islamabad for humiliating and not letting Indian diplomats enter the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib despite permission.

"India lodges strong protests with Pakistan over harassment of High Commission officials in Islamabad, denial of access to Indian pilgrims. As a result of such harassment they were compelled to return to Islamabad without performing their diplomatic and consular duties vis-a-vis Indian pilgrims," said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement.

The officials were denied access to meet Indian pilgrims on November 21-22 at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Sacha Sauda in Pakistan.

New Delhi has also expressed concerns at reports of attempts to incite communal disharmony during the visit of Indian pilgrims to Pakistan. It has asked the Pakistan government to "take all measures to not allow its territory to be used for hostile propaganda against India".

Several pro-Khalistan posters were spotted at Sikh pilgrimage sites across Pakistan in the last few days raising security concerns for Indian pilgrims.

Sources said Indian diplomats have not been allowed inside these gurdwaras because of the anti-India posters.

Under the framework of the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, 1974, both nations to allow religious pilgrimages to be carried out every year.

This year, 144 Pakistani Zaireen (Muslim pilgrims) are visiting Sirhind in India for the annual Urs celebrations and to pay obeisance at the Shrine of Sheikh Faruqi Sirhindi (Mujaddid Alf Sani).

Similarly, around 3,800 Indian Sikh pilgrims have been issued visas by Pakistan to visit Gurdwara Nankana Sahib to participate in the 549th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev in Pakistan from November 21 to 30.

The development comes a day after India on Thursday announced the construction of Kartarpur corridor up to the international border.

The corridor will begin from Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab and will end at the international border, on the Indian side. The corridor is being built to facilitate the visit by Indian pilgrims to the holy Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, where Guru Nanak spent his last 18 years.

Pakistan has confirmed that it will build the remaining stretch of the corridor on its land.

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