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Fewer Sikhs to visit for security reasons
By Atif Nadeem
LAHORE
A FEW Indian Sikh pilgrims are
expected to visit Pakistan this time around on the eve of Jore Mela
to observe martyrdom of Guru Arjen Dev, due to prevalent law and
order situation in Pakistan.
The celebration will commence on June
9 and it will end on June 17. The Indian pilgrims were reluctant to
visit Pakistan after the terror attacks on Sri Lankan cricket team
and the Mannawan Police Training School as only 300 Sikh pilgrims
instead of 4,000 expected pilgrims came to celebrate Besakhi
festival last time.
Talking to The News on Monday,
Evacuees Property Trust Board Chairman Asif Hashmi said that the
EPTB in collaboration with law-enforcement including Pakistan
Rangers had taken measures to provide maximum security to the Sikh
Yatrees. He said that the Indian Sikhs should not be worried about
the law and order conditions in Pakistan as the Sikhs were granted
complete religious freedom in Pakistan.
He urged the Indian Sikh community to
visit Pakistan for their religious festivals without any fear.
Talking about the plight of the displaced Sikhs from Pakistani
tribal areas, he said that they had left their places due to the
on-going military operation against the Taliban.
He said that the EPTB had been
providing maximum relief and comfort to the displaced Sikhs at
Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Hassanabdal. He added that some hidden
elements had tried to create misunderstanding among the Sikh
community and the Muslims, saying that the Taliban had demanded
jazia from the Sikhs living in Pakistan.
He discarded all such propaganda,
claiming that the Muslims always respect religious freedom of the
minorities in Pakistan. He hoped that maximum number of Indian
pilgrimages would visit Pakistan this time around.
Guru Arjan Dev Ji or Guru Arjun Dev
Ji (born in Amritsar, Punjab, India on 15 April 1563 - 30 May 1606
Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan) was the fifth of the 10 Gurus of Sikhism
and became a Guru on September 1m 1581 following in the footsteps of
Guru Ram Das.
Guru Arjan was head of Sikhism for a
quarter of a century and accomplished a lot during his regime. He
completed the construction of Amritsar and founded other cities such
as Taran Taran and Kartarpur. The most important work of Arjan Dev
was the compilation of Adi Granth. He collected all the work of the
first four Gurus and dictated it in the form of verses in 1604. It
is, perhaps, the only book of a scriptural nature which still exists
in the form first published (a hand-written manuscript) by the Guru.
On the eve of Bishaki Mela, The
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee had not visited Pakistan
which significantly reduced the number of the Sikh pilgrims from
India but representatives of Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee
along with the officials of the EPTB were there to receive the
pilgrims with open arms.
The News: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 |
