Pakistan releases song on Kartarpur to promote religious harmony

To promote religious harmony in Pakistan and across the world, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday released a new song.

According to Radio Pakistan, the song has been picturised in the context of the opening of Kartarpur Corridor for giving visa-free access to the Sikh community to visit their holy place Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur in Narowal district of Punjab.

Earlier in the day, more than 600 Sikh pilgrims crossed the Pak-India border on foot and reached Wagah where they were received by the Abandoned Waqf Property Board and the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

In the song, Bollywood celebrity Ponam Kaur and her family are seen expressing their gratitude to Prime Minister Imran Khan for taking the unprecedented initiative for facilitating them in their religious journey and on making their long unfulfilled dreams come true.

The move comes in the backdrop of Premier Imran’s vision of achieving prosperity for the entire region through peace and opening of hearts for the communities belonging to other faiths. His vision has already started bearing fruits in the form of enhanced interfaith harmony and religious tourism.

Tantalisingly close from the Indian border but out-of-reach for decades due to the perennial state of enmity between India and Pakistan, the shrine – a white-domed building – has remained on the wish list of millions of Sikhs for decades.

PM Imran inaugurated the visa-free border crossing – connecting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan to the border with India – on November 9, 2019 on the eve of the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith.

This initiative by the government has been appreciated by the Sikh community across the globe. The first Guru of Sikhism, Baba Guru Nanak Saheb, had spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur.

Under the religious tourism agreement between Pakistan and India, 3,000 Sikh pilgrims from India can come on Baba Guru Nanak's birthday.

In the past, more than 3,000 Indian pilgrims have been issued visas from Pakistan, but this year more than 600 Sikh pilgrims have arrived in the country due to the coronavirus epidemic.

According to officials of the Abandoned Waqf Property Board, Indian pilgrims will be provided free food and travel facilities during their stay in Pakistan.

Indian guests will return via Wagah border on December 1.

(With additional input from Asif Mehmood in Lahore)