Annual festivities: From around the world, Sikhs converge

548th birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak celebrated with traditional zeal and fervour

The Sikh community came together on Monday to celebrate the 548th birth anniversary of the founder of the Sikh religion Baba Guru Nanak in Pakistan. The festivities will run till November 21.

Every year, thousands of Sikhs from all over the world, including India, come to Nankana Sahib – about 75 kilometres west of Lahore – to attend the annual celebrations. This year’s ceremony is being attended by more than 15,000 Sikh pilgrims from India, America, Canada, Britain and other countries.

Nankana Sahib is a town of Gurdwaras (Sikh temples) with the most important being the Nanak’s Ayan called Janam Asthan or birthplace of Guru Nanak, who spent his childhood and teenage years in the town.



The area was formerly a tehsil of Sheikhupura district till May 2005, when the provincial government raised the status of Nankana Sahib to that of a district to promote development and interfaith harmony.

Despite recent Pakistan-India border tensions, Pakistan has issued 3,316 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims for attending the birthday celebrations that are held every year in Nankana Sahib.

Keeping in view the security situation in the country, the government has made extensive security arrangements besides ensuring immigration, customs, bank and medical facilities at the Wagah Railway Station in Lahore to facilitate Sikh pilgrims.

After arriving in Pakistan, pilgrims directly leave for Nankana Sahib from where they will go on to Sacha Soda in Farooqabad. On November 15, the Sikh yatrees will leave for Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal and will return to Gurdwara Dera Sahib on November 17.



During their stay in Lahore, the pilgrims will visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Narowal, and then Gurdwara Rohri Sahib in Aimanabad. These pilgrims will return to their homelands on November 21.

This year, the government has reopened the Gurudawara Sri Kiyara Singh in Nankana Sahib for pilgrims after several years. A stone-laying ceremony of the monument of Bhai Mardana, who was a close companion of Guru Nanak, was held a day earlier. On November 19, Angetha Sahib at Darbar Sahib Kartarpur would be inaugurated. The groundbreaking ceremony for the Baba Guru Nanak University is schedule for January.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2016.