Pakistan Sets International Standard of Hospitality as 2,200 Sikh Pilgrims Depart for Kartarpur

April 15, 2026 – Nazrana Times 
On the occasion of the Visaakhi Mela and Khalsa Janam Din, 2,200 Sikh pilgrims who arrived from India departed for Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur after completing their visit to Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal.
Additional Secretary of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Shrines, Nasir Mushtaq, along with Caretaker Ismatullah, saw off the Sikh pilgrims from Gurdwara Panja Sahib. He personally reviewed all security arrangements. Punjab Police contingents are deployed at the site. The pilgrims were dispatched in three separate convoys. ETPB staff, under the supervision of Deputy Secretary Shrines Faraz Abbas, Shrines Security Officer Fazl Rabi, and Security Officers Asim Chaudhry and Noman Randhawa, are accompanying the buses to serve the pilgrims.
To provide medical facilities during the journey, rescue ambulances and the ETPB medical unit are also accompanying the pilgrims. Special security has been deployed along the routes of the pilgrim convoys, while rest areas designated for the pilgrims have been temporarily closed to the general public.

Before departing from Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Jathedar Sardar Sarjeet Singh of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) from India spoke to the media and said: “Our gurdwaras in Pakistan are safe and preserved in their original condition. Pilgrims are being provided excellent accommodation, medical facilities, and transport.”
Other Sikh pilgrims also expressed their views, saying they had been provided with excellent buses for travel, along with clean mineral water for drinking. They added that outstanding arrangements for food and langar (community kitchen) had been made at the gurdwaras, for which they are deeply grateful to the ETPB administration and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC).
Additional Secretary Shrines Nasir Mushtaq stated that, on the special instructions of the federal government and the Chairman of the ETPB, international-standard arrangements had been made for the pilgrims. He expressed gratitude to the district administration, health department, police, and federal security agencies for their hospitality toward the Sikh pilgrims and for the successful organisation of the Visaakhi Mela.
He further said that the pilgrims will stay for two days at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, where they will perform their religious rituals. In honour of the Indian pilgrims, a Punjabi cultural sport – Kabaddi – has also been arranged in the outer precincts of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.
The Sikh pilgrims will visit Gurdwara Roari Sahib in Eminabad on April 17, then arrive in Lahore, where they will stay at Gurdwara Dera Sahib. They will return to India on April 19 via the Wagah Border.