Over 2,100 Indian Sikh pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival in Pakistan marking 556 years since the birth of Guru Nanak, and roughly 2,000 entered via the Wagah-Attari crossing. Pilgrims were welcomed with flowers and rose petals and will visit Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur. Pakistani officials say the visit aims to promote inter-religious harmony, even as the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor remains closed following May's deadly clashes between the two countries.
Over 2,000 Sikh Pilgrims Cross into Pakistan in First Major Wagah Opening Since May Clashes
Over 2,100 Indian Sikh pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival in Pakistan marking 556 years since the birth of Guru Nanak, and roughly 2,000 entered via the Wagah-Attari crossing. Pilgrims were welcomed with flowers and rose petals and will visit Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur. Pakistani officials say the visit aims to promote inter-religious harmony, even as the visa-free Kartarpur Corridor remains closed following May's deadly clashes between the two countries.
16:21, 04.11.2025Society
Indian Sikh pilgrims welcomed into Pakistan as border reopens for religious visits
Pakistan on Tuesday welcomed jubilant Sikh pilgrims from India in the first significant crossing since deadly clashes in May prompted the closure of the land border between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi said more than 2,100 pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival marking 556 years since the birth of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. Pakistani officials later told reporters that around 2,000 visitors crossed at the Wagah-Attari crossing on the eve of the celebrations.
AFP journalists at the scene described hundreds of pilgrims streaming through the border with luggage in tow. They were greeted by Pakistani officials who presented flowers and showered them with rose petals; many pilgrims wore garlands and chanted joyfully after crossing.
“We have nothing to do with the war,” pilgrim Parvinder Kaur told AFP. “We often watched videos of the shrines and dreamed of coming here, and now, we are finally here for the first time.”
“It doesn't feel like we are in another country. It feels like we are among our own people,” said Valeti Singh. “We pray to God that when Pakistanis visit our side, we can reciprocate the same warmth and respect.”
'Pleasant memories'
Nasir Mushtaq, a senior official at Pakistan's ministry of religious affairs, told AFP that authorities were welcoming Sikh pilgrims "with greater respect, honour and hospitality than ever before" and hoped the visitors would depart with "pleasant memories of Pakistan." There was no immediate confirmation of the crossing figures from Indian officials.
The pilgrims are due to gather at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak west of Lahore, and to visit other sacred sites including Kartarpur, where the guru is buried. The Kartarpur Corridor — a visa-free route opened in 2019 to allow Indian Sikhs to visit the shrine without crossing the main border — has remained closed since the May fighting.
The May clashes, the worst between Islamabad and New Delhi since 1999, lasted four days and left more than 70 people dead, according to media reports at the time. They followed Indian accusations that Pakistan supported a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, an allegation Islamabad denied.
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in the 15th century in the Punjab region, which today spans parts of both India and Pakistan. The 1947 partition of British India drew the modern frontier and left many of Sikhism's most revered shrines on the Pakistan side, making cross-border pilgrimage an emotionally significant and politically sensitive issue.
Context: The reopening for pilgrims does not indicate a full resumption of normal cross-border traffic, but it is a notable step toward people-to-people engagement after a period of heightened tensions.