Weeks after being told that his pilgrimage to Sikh shrines in Pakistan, including Nankana Sahib, had been cancelled, Harjindarpal Singh’s disappointment turned to unbridled joy on Friday (October 31, 2025) when he received his passport and Pakistani visa. The Hoshiarpur resident is one of 2,100 Sikh pilgrims granted visas by the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi after the Indian government changed its stance and allowed the groups to travel.
“In September, when I received the news that our government was not allowing pilgrims to Nankana Sahib, I was taken aback and disappointed. I had been preparing for this journey for months,” the 50-year-old devotee told The Hindu. “This pilgrimage means everything to me. It’s not just a trip – it’s a spiritual calling,” he said.
Mr. Singh, who collected his visa passport from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee (SGPC) office in Amritsar, is part of the Jathas that will leave on November 4 through the Wagah border and return on November 13. These groups, who plan to celebrate the birth anniversary of Sikh founder Guru Nanak, will be allowed into Pakistan from Operation Sindo since his first trip to Pakistan.
Sikh pilgrims heading to Pakistan for a 10-day pilgrimage to Guru Nanak Dev’s birthplace, Nankana Sahib, with their passports after visa clearance from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) office in Amritsar on Friday. | Photo credit: ANI
SGPC Secretary Partap Singh welcomed the government’s decision to lift the earlier ban and thanked both the Indian and Pakistani governments for facilitating “smooth issuance of visas to pilgrims”. Of the 2,100 pilgrims issued visas, 1,796 pilgrims are from Punjab while others are from Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Uttar Pradesh, an SGPC official said.
Also Read: Indians and Pakistanis on the Attari border: People who bear the weight of a divided history
Turn the pilgrimages
Meanwhile, there is confusion at the Center over whose decision it was now to stop the pilgrimage and then restart it, with the Home Ministry and the Foreign Ministry remaining silent on the reason for the decision. MEA officials said the decision was taken by the MHA, while an MHA official said the applications were processed on the recommendations of the state government, but added that “it is the MEA that decides whether the jathas could get permission”.
On September 12, just as the Jaths were planning their visit to Pakistan, usually around Prakash Purb, or Guru Nanak’s birthday in November, the MHA sent notices to the state governments involved suspending all arrangements for the pilgrims.
“In view of the prevailing security scenario with Pakistan, it would not be possible to send jathas (groups) of Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan,” the MHA’s notice to state governments said, prompting calls from the Punjab government and SGPC leaders to reconsider the decision.
The sources said the announcement was withdrawn less than a month later in early October, but did not explain the reason for the reversal. Both the MEA and MHA officials declined to respond to The Hindu’s queries on whether the security situation in Pakistan has now improved enough for the groups to cross the border.
Kartarpur Sahib corridor closed
Additionally, while the Pakistani government has said the groups will be allowed to travel to Kartarpur Sahib as well, the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, which the two countries opened in 2020, remains closed, suggesting they will take a longer route to reach the shrines.
The MHA website for the Kartarpur Corridor states that “in view of the existing security scenario, Sri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor services are suspended in other directions”.
It is unclear whether other religious travel between the two countries, which has been suspended since the India-Pakistan conflict in May following the Pahalgam attacks, will now be allowed. Under the 1974 Protocol on Religious Exchanges, India and Pakistan agreed to allow groups from different religious communities to visit each other’s shrines, and thousands of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in both countries benefit from the agreement each year. The official said that no request has been received from Pakistan in this regard.
All existing visas for Pakistani nationals were canceled by India on 24 April following the Pahalgam attack, and issuance of new visas for other trips, including medical treatment, business and visits to relatives, remains suspended, a move replicated by Pakistan for Indian nationals.
(with contributions from Vijaya Singh)
Published – 31 Oct 2025 21:18 IST
