AMRITSAR: Visas have been received for the sikh pilgrims to be sent by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee to visit the Gurdwaras in Pakistan on the occasion of Khalsa Sajna Diwas (Vaisakhi). This jatha will leave from the Shiromani Committee office on April 10.
Giving information in this regard, Secretary of the Shiromani Committee. Partap Singh said that the passports of 1942 devotees were sent by the Shiromani Committee to the Pakistan Embassy in Delhi, to whom visas have been issued by the embassy.
He said that like every year, this time also a jatha of Sikh devotees is to be sent to Pakistan on the occasion of Khalsa Sajna Diwas (Vaisakhi). This jatha will leave from the SGPC office on April 10 amidst chants, which will attend the main function of Khalsa Sajna Diwas Baisakhi at Gurdwara Sri Panja Sahib Hassan Abdal in Pakistan, visit various Gurdwaras and return to the country on April 19.
Partap Singh said that the pilgrims going to Pakistan who have visas should collect their passports from the SGPC office on April 9 during office hours.
Meanwhile, OSD Satbir Singh Dhami thanked the officials of the Pakistan Embassy on behalf of the SGPC for issuing visas to all the names sent by the SGPC.
He said that in the past, many pilgrims were not given visas, which hurt the religious sentiments of the pilgrims. Recently, on the orders of SGPC President Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami and under the leadership of Chief Secretary Kulwant Singh Mannan, a delegation met the officials of the Pakistan Embassy in Delhi and demanded that all the pilgrims be granted visas. He said that he thanked the officials of the Pakistan Embassy as well as the governments of India and Pakistan for generously granting visas to all the names sent by the SGPC.