india

Updated: Oct 28, 2019 15:50 IST

A group of Sikh devotees from India, part of a religious procession, on Monday started off their spiritual journey from Delhi to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, the birthplace of founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev, the High Commission here said.

The ‘Nagar Kirtan’ (procession) is led by Sardar Paramjit Singh Sarna, the former president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), and includes representatives from different sections of the Sikh community in India, the Pakistan High Commission said in a statement.

On Monday morning, the procession was sent off by several dignitaries, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it said.

Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan Syed Haider Shah also attended the send-off ceremony as a special guest, the statement added.

The ‘Nagar Kirtan’ via Ludhiana and Amritsar would be crossing over to Pakistan on October 31 through the Wagah border, the High Commission said.

“Today, a religious procession (‘Nagar Kirtan’) of Sikh devotees from India started off their spiritual journey from New Delhi to the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikh religion, in Nankana Sahib, a sacred city in Pakistan,” the statement said.

This ‘Nagar Kirtan’ from India is being welcomed by Pakistan as a special gesture this year on the auspicious occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, it added.

“Around 1,300 visas issued for the ‘Nagar Kirtan are over and above the ‘jatha’ covered under the ‘Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines 1974’ between Pakistan and India,” the statement said.

In accordance with the historic initiative of Prime Minister Imran Khan to open the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, to be inaugurated on November 9, for Sikhs and other ‘Naamlevas’ of Guru Nanak Dev, Pakistan has facilitated visits of a number of Sikh ‘jathas’ not only from India but across the globe, it said. PTI KND AQS