Religious pilgrimage may have just opened the doors to a better relationship between India and Pakistan following a long period of tension. After the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor connecting the two most important Sikh shrines and a jatha (group) of more than 2,000 devotees visiting Pakistan for Guru Nanak Jayanti on November 19, India has allowed entry to a flock of pilgrims from the neighbouring country.
Around 70 Pakistanis are visiting India to participate in the 718th urs (death anniversary) of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya from November 18-25 in Delhi.
The visits are being conducted under the 1974 bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines between the two countries, said sources. This is happening with improvement in Covid situation in India, they added.
The two countries threw open the Kartarpur Corridor linking Dera Baba Sahib in Gurdaspur in India with the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, marking a historic people-to-people initiative. The step was taken amid raging tensions between India and Pakistan. Ties between the two countries plummeted after India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on August 5, 2019, and bifurcated it into two union territories. Kashmir has witnessed a spate of terror attacks over the past few months aided by anti-India forces in Pakistan.
This is the first group of pilgrims from Pakistan to visit India after the onset of Covid-19 in March 2020.
The 718th urs of Nizamuddin Auliya will be held at the Dargah sharif in New Delhi. The number of visitors has been restricted due to the pandemic.
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