Northlines Desk
New Delhi/Amritsar, Nov 15: In yet another episode underscoring Pakistan’s divisive approach toward India’s minority communities, fourteen Hindu devotees travelling for the Prakash Parv of Guru Nanak Dev Ji were humiliated and turned back by Pakistani authorities from boarding couches to Nankana Sahib — despite having valid travel documents issued by Islamabad itself.
The incident took place even as over 2,000 Sikh pilgrims undertook the annual November pilgrimage to Pakistan to celebrate the 556th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The jatha, cleared by India’s Home Ministry and allowed entry by Pakistan on November 4, returned to India on November 14 after visiting several historic gurdwaras.
However, a group of 14 pilgrims — eight from Delhi and the rest from Lucknow, all Sindhi-origin Indian Hindus— were singled out and denied permission to board the bus headed to Nankana Sahib. According to pilgrims, Pakistani officials curtly told them, “You are Hindus. You cannot go with the Sikh group,” and ordered them to march back toward the border, ending their pilgrimage just a few feet from the crossing.
Observers and Sikh bodies have sharply questioned Pakistan’s intentions. If these devotees were “objectionable,” why issue them visas at all? Indian officials have termed the episode a “shocking and unprecedented act of discrimination,” noting that it is in violation of the spirit of the Shimla Agreement under which Indian groups — including many Hindu families with deep reverence for Guru Nanak — travel to Pakistan for Prakash Parv every year.
Community leaders point out that a very large section of Indian Hindus, especially Sindhi and Punjabi families who identify as Sehajdhari Sikhs, have followed Guru Nanak’s teachings for generations. Their participation in the yatra has always been an integral expression of shared cultural and spiritual traditions. Pakistan’s attempt to separate Hindus from Sikh pilgrims is therefore seen as a deliberate attempt to fracture this historic harmony.
According to security assessments cited in Khalsa Vox, Pakistan has been increasingly using Khalistani networks to create fissures between Sikhs and Hindus in India while projecting itself as a “protector” of Sikhs. The humiliation of Hindu pilgrims, the report notes, fits into a long-running pattern in which Islamabad fuels separatist sentiment while undermining Sikh identity internationally.
The episode has drawn strong condemnation, with analysts describing it as yet another instance of Pakistan’s “petty and divisive tactics.” By first issuing visas and then publicly expelling the Hindu devotees, they argue, Pakistan has aimed to deepen mistrust between the communities and push a wedge into the Hindu–Sikh social fabric that has stood strong for centuries.
Apart from the 14 turned back by Pakistan, around 300 individuals who had independently applied for visas were stopped on the Indian side due to lack of Home Ministry clearance, officials said.
The latest incident, however, has renewed calls for India to reassess the ground realities of religious pilgrimages to Pakistan, whose policies — critics say — continue to weaponise faith for geopolitical ends, particularly against communities bound by shared heritage and the universal teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
(This report has been published as part of syndicate wire feed and Live broadcast reports)
