Pakistan welcomed dozens of Indian Sikh pilgrims on Tuesday, marking the first significant border crossing since deadly clashes in May led to the shutdown of the land route between the two nuclear-armed nations, AFP journalists reported.
Over 2,100 visas were issued for the 10-day celebration of Guru Nanak’s 556th birth anniversary, according to Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi.
Despite the resumption of pilgrim travel, tensions persist between Islamabad and New Delhi after their most intense conflict since 1999 left more than 70 people dead in May due to missile, drone, and artillery exchanges.
The Wagah-Attari crossing—the sole active land border between the countries—remains closed to regular traffic following the unrest.
Pilgrims queued up on the Indian side of the border on Tuesday morning, some carrying their luggage on their heads, as the Indian Border Security Force looked on.
AFP journalists on the Pakistani side of the Wagah-Attari border saw dozens of them entering Pakistan.
They were received by Pakistani officials who presented them with flowers and showered them with rose petals.
Indian media reported around 1,700 were due to cross into Pakistan, although there was no immediate official confirmation from Indian authorities.
The pilgrims will gather on Wednesday at Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace about 80 kilometres (50 miles) west of Lahore by road, and later visit other sacred sites in Pakistan, including Kartarpur, where the guru is buried.
Pakistan’s High Commission had said last week its decision was consistent with efforts to promote “inter-religious and inter-cultural harmony and understanding”.
Indian newspapers reported on Saturday that the government would allow “selected” groups to travel to Pakistan.
The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free route that opened in 2019 that allows Indian Sikhs to visit the temple without crossing the main border, remains closed since the conflict.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion born in the 15th century in Punjab, a region spanning parts of what is now India and Pakistan.
The frontier between the two countries was a colonial creation drawn at the violent end of British rule in 1947, which sliced the subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
While most Sikhs migrated to India during partition, some of their most revered places of worship ended up in Pakistan, including the shrines in Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur.
Source: Dunya News