Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

International

FO slams India’s concerns about Sikh Yatris scheduled to visit Pakistan

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that Sikh Yatri’s visiting Pakistan for the pilgrimage were fully facilitated during their visits, rejecting India’s concerns.

The FO Spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said at the weekly media briefing,

“Pakistan provides maximum facilitation to the Sikh Yatris from all over the world, including India, for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan.”

India had prohibited about 600 Sikhs planning to visit Pakistan from Feb 18 to 25 for the 100th anniversary of Saka Nankana Sahib. The group was supposed to visit five Gurdwaras in Pakistan.

Indian Ministry of Home Affairs had declined the permissions to Sikhs to take the trip and said that given the “capacity of health infrastructure in Pakistan” it could not permit such a big group to visit the country for 7 days.

The Indian home ministry also expressed apprehensions over the “safety” of the group because of what it said was “considerable threat”.

Refuting the superficial concerns Mr Chaudhri recalled that Pakistan had opened the largest and the holiest Sikh shrine in Kartarpur Sahib to facilitate Sikh Yatris.  He maintained,

“The Sikh as well as the international community, including UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who while visiting Kartarpur described it as ‘Corridor of Hope’, have immensely appreciated this landmark initiative of Pakistan.”

“The Sikh community remains particularly appreciative of the efforts made by Pakistan to complete the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor Project in record time and for the excellent arrangements made to facilitate the pilgrims,” he added.

The spokesperson said India should also facilitate Sikh Yatris for visiting their religious sites in Pakistan.

Avatar photo
Written By

Breaking News

Kapil Sharma and his team faced another setback after their show has been ended on the Netflix. It is, indeed, a sad and bad...

Entertainment

Data from Netflix indicates that “The Great Indian Kapil Show,” a prominent program on the platform, is witnessing a decline in viewership after airing...

National

During the inauguration of a field hospital in Lahore, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz encouraged her critics to engage in public service, suggesting that...

International

The Taliban, in collaboration with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, has reached an agreement to establish a logistics hub in western Afghanistan, aiming to transform the...