LAHORE: Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed Sikh pilgrims from India in the first major cross-border movement since deadly clashes in May forced the closure of the Wagah-Attari border, AFP reported.
Dozens of pilgrims were seen entering Pakistan as officials greeted them with flowers and rose petals at the Wagah crossing, according to AFP journalists at the scene.
More than 2,100 Indian Sikhs were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival marking the 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith, Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi said last week.
The Wagah-Attari border, the only active land route between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, was shut to general traffic following the May clashes — the most serious fighting between India and Pakistan since 1999.
On Tuesday morning, pilgrims were seen queuing on the Indian side, carrying their luggage under the watch of the Indian Border Security Force. Indian media reported that around 1,700 pilgrims were expected to cross, though no official confirmation was immediately available.
The pilgrims will visit several sacred sites during their stay, including Nankana Sahib — Guru Nanak’s birthplace, about 80 kilometres west of Lahore — and Kartarpur, where he is buried.
Pakistan’s High Commission had earlier said its decision to issue visas was part of Islamabad’s commitment to promote “inter-religious and inter-cultural harmony and understanding.”
Indian newspapers reported that the government had approved travel for “selected” groups of pilgrims. The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free route that opened in 2019 to allow Sikh devotees from India to visit the temple without formally crossing the main border, remains closed since the May conflict.
The clashes erupted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack on tourists in Indian-occupied Kashmir on April 22, allegations Islamabad has strongly rejected.
Sikhism, founded in the 15th century in Punjab, a region now divided between India and Pakistan, reveres sites on both sides of the frontier, which was drawn during the violent 1947 partition of British India.
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