'You are not Sikh': Pakistan bars Indian Hindu pilgrims from entering on Guru Nanak Jayanti, sparks outrage

Around 2,100 pilgrims, who were cleared by the Union Home Ministry, were travelling to Nankana Sahib to celebrate Guru Nanak's 556th birth anniversary.

Fourteen people, who were from Delhi and Lucknow, were denied entry even after Pakistan issued travel documents to them.

About 1,900 pilgrims entered Pakistan through Wagah Border but reports claim 14 of them were denied entry.

"You are Hindu… you can't go with Sikh devotees," those fourteen were told as reported by NDTV.

Thisyear's pilgrimage was the first people-to-people contact since India conducted Operation Sindoor to bust the terrorists' hideouts in Pakistan as a revenge of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Inaugurated in 2019, the Kartarpur Corridor allows Indian Sikhs visa-free travel to another key site — Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, Kartarpur, where Guru Nanak spent his final years.

Nankana Sahib visits are seen as part of the same spiritual and diplomatic continuum, symbolizing cooperation amid political strain.

It lies in Pakistan’s Punjab province, and Sikh pilgrims primarily come from India, home to the largest Sikh population.

Visits to the shrine often act as a rare diplomatic bridge between the two countries, whose relations are otherwise tense.

Religious pilgrimages here foster people-to-people contact, creating goodwill beyond politics.