Pakistan on Friday, 14 June, claimed that India refused to let its train cross the border and bring some 200 Sikh yatris to Lahore for Jore Mela festivities, death anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. According to Sikhism, the event is also called Shahdi Jor Mela or Shaheedi Purab of Guru Arjan Dev Ji.
India, on the other hand, has lodged a strong protest with Pakistan over its refusal to grant visa to 87 Indian pilgrims who wanted to visit the neighbouring country to observe the death anniversary of the fifth Sikh Guru's Martyrdom Day on 7 June, official sources said.
The pilgrims, who were denied visa, were a part of the official jatha group, the sources said, adding that restrictive visa was granted to a private group of Indian pilgrims. The pilgrims visit Gurdwara Dera Sahib on the occasion. The visa for the pilgrims were sought under a 1974 bilateral protocol on visit to religious shrines.
India-Pakistan Play Blame Game
“Pakistan had issued visas to some 200 Indian Sikhs to attend the Jore Mela and they were due to arrive here by a Pakistani train on Friday. But the Indian government refused to allow the Pakistani train to enter its territory to bring the Sikh yatris here.”Amir Hashmi, spokesperson for Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB)
"We remained in touch with the Indian authorities at the border regarding letting the Pakistani train cross the border to pick the awaiting Sikh yatris but they plainly refused," Hashmi claimed. He said that the Indian authorities gave no reason for their refusal. The ETPB is a government department that looks after the affairs and holy places of minorities in Pakistan.
"We have protested the Indian decision. Since the Pakistani High Commission (in Delhi) had issued visas to 200 Sikh yatrees there was no point in stopping them from coming to Lahore," Hashmi said, adding that this issue will be take up with India at the government level.
Meanwhile, a source in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said, "The Ministry expressed its concern at the disregard shown by the High Commission of Pakistan on the religious sentiments and devotion of the Indian pilgrims especially by Pakistan unilaterally granting restrictive visa (by rail only) to a private group of Indian pilgrims.”
The MEA has called upon Pakistan to immediately grant visa without any restriction, they said.
Pak’s Sikh Community Disappointed
Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandhik Committee President Tara Singh said that the Indian decision has disappointed the Sikh community in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, in Amritsar, United Akali Dal General Secretary Paramjit Singh Jijani, who was leading the Sikh group to Pakistan, also claimed that the Indian Railways has refused to give permission to the train from Pakistan to enter the Attari railway station to carry around 130 yatris to Lahore.
He said that the Pakistan embassy had already issued seven-day visa to all the 130 Sikh members to visit Lahore and some other Sikh shrines in the neighbouring country, including Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
However, in the morning, the pilgrims were informed at the Attari railway station that there was no permission from the Indian authorities to allow the train, coming from Wagah, to enter the station. It was a special train to carry Sikh devotees from India, he added.
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