Coronavirus fears prevent Indian Sikhs from visiting Pakistan holy site for festival

Name: Indian Sikhs pilgrims cross border into Pakistan to visit holy site
Uploaded: 2020-09-23T02:00:24.000Z
Duration: 2 min 7 s
Description: Indian Sikhs pilgrims cross border into Pakistan to visit holy site

Travel corridor created last year to let Indian Sikhs visit a holy shrine in northeast Pakistan remains closed on sacred day

This year would have been first time Indian Sikhs could cross visa-free into Pakistan to mark anniversary of guru’s death

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Sikh pilgrims take part in a religious ritual on the occasion of the 481st death anniversary of Guru Nanak at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, near the India-Pakistan border on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Agence France-Presse

Published: 10:00am, 23 Sep 2020Updated: 11:30am, 24 Sep 2020

Coronavirus fears meant a historic travel corridor created last year to let Indian Sikhs visit a holy shrine in northeast Pakistan remained closed on Tuesday on one of the faith’s most sacred days.

Hundreds of Pakistani Sikhs visited the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, a huge temple in Kartarpur marking the grave of Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak, to commemorate the 481st anniversary of his death.

This year would have been the first time Indian Sikhs could have crossed visa-free into Pakistan to mark the anniversary at the site, located just four kilometres inside the country, after a special crossing was opened in November 2019.

The creation of the Kartarpur Corridor marked a rare example of cooperation between the nuclear-armed rivals, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

Worshippers sang holy hymns from Sikh scripture, prayed and bowed before the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book.

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Indian Sikhs pilgrims cross border into Pakistan to visit holy site

Some lamented the closing of the new crossing.