Pakistan said willing to grant visa to Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann to visit

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Photo:

Pakistan on Friday (6 November 2026) said it would consider issuing a visa to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann if the Indian politician wishes to visit the country.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said this during his weekly media briefing in response to a question about a possible visit by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.

The Pakistani government would “consider issuing a visa if he wanted to visit the country”, Mr Khan said, clarifying that whether the Indian government would allow Mr Mann to travel to Pakistan was a separate matter.

On October 23, Mr. Mann said he had been invited to the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore on November 27.

However, he questioned whether he would be allowed to travel to Pakistan. “Our culture is the same. Many poets from here will go there,” he said.

Mr. Mann also expressed his desire that all the legislators of the Punjab Legislative Assembly should visit Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan if the Kartarpur Corridor is reopened.

The corridor that connects Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab, India with the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan was established to facilitate Sikh pilgrims to travel to the shrine associated with Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism.

It allows Indian pilgrims to visit the gurdwara without the need for a visa to Pakistan, subject to appropriate arrangements.

The corridor remained closed to pilgrim movements from the Indian side since 7 May 2025, when India launched pre-dawn missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack.

Pakistan has said it remains ready to help pilgrims once the restrictions are lifted.

A Foreign Office spokesman said Pakistan welcomes pilgrims of all faiths and is committed to facilitating visits to religious sites.

He said the country had issued more than 9,000 visas to Indian religious pilgrims, including Sikh and Hindu pilgrims, in 2025 and had issued more than 4,000 more visas to Sikh pilgrims during the first half of this year.

“Pakistan is looking forward to welcoming a large number of Sikh pilgrims to Nankana Sahib later this month to mark the 557th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji,” Mr Khan said.

The spokesman said Pakistan has established the Kartarpur Corridor as a special initiative to facilitate Sikh pilgrims, allowing more than 5,000 pilgrims to visit the shrine daily and return on the same day.

Mr Khan said the 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines between Pakistan and India provided a framework for facilitating religious pilgrimages between the two countries.

He also said that Pakistan was taking steps to preserve and protect Buddhist heritage sites, including those at Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, and had set up a special task force for the purpose.

Published – 07 Nov 2026 01:39 IST