 |
|
|
|
Sikh religious festival starts tomorrow
A three-day Sikh religious festival Joti jot will start at Gurdwara Punja Sahib Hassanabdal. — APP/File Photo TAXILA: A three-day Sikh religious festival Joti jot will start at Gurdwara Punja Sahib Hassanabdal from Tuesday. Around 500 Sikh pilgrims from India are likely to participate in the festival, besides from different parts of the country. Joti which literally means the ‘light joining another light’ is also used for ‘joining of the light of the human person (soul) to the Supreme Light (God)’. According to the Sikh religion, Gurus and Sikh scriptures teach that if someone is immortal (or attained immortality during the course of their life), he does not die even after he leaves this world as he rejoins God.During the festival, the pilgrims will offer their religious rituals, including yatra of the Punja on a stone from where fresh water flows, Ashnan (bath in the holy water of the Gurdwara). They will also visit symbolic shrine of Baba Wali Qandhari at the hill top. Evacuee Trust Property Board Deputy Administrator (Shrines) Syed Faraz Abbas told mediapersons that all necessary arrangements for the boarding and lodging of the pilgrims had been made. He said due to prevailing security situation in the country, enhanced security measures would be adopted for the safety of Indian Sikh yatrees. Mr Abbas said district police with the assistance of other law-enforcement agencies had already made elaborate and foolproof security arrangements for the pilgrims during their stay at Hassanabdal. He said strict security measures would be adopted in and around the Gurdwara with the help of close circuit cameras. He said all religious places and main routes in the city were under the vigilance of police and other law-enforcing agencies. Over 250 Sikhs arrive in Lahore to attend Jore Mela
Sikh pilgrims wave from inside the Samjhauta Express, a train that runs between India and Pakistan, at a train station in Amritsar, India.—AP LAHORE: Some 250 Sikhs arrived here from India on Tuesday to take part in Jore Mela in Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Lahore. The three-day festival starting from June 15 is being held in connection with the death anniversary of Guru Arjun Dev Jee. Evacuee Trust Property Board officials, including its chairman Asif Hashmi, and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee greeted the Sikhs at Wagah. More than 1,000 Sikhs were scheduled to come here, but recent terror attacks in Lahore reportedly have scared them away. In April, only 475 Sikhs came here to attend Baisakhi Mela as against the scheduled 4,000 owing to security issues. Soon after their arrival, the pilgrims left for Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal where they will stay for three days. After visiting other gurdwaras, including Janam Asthan, the birth place of Baba Guru Nanak, they will reach Gurdwara Dera Sahib on June 15 to take part in the main festival. They will return to their homeland on June 18. DAWN: Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009 |
