As many as 3,000 Indian Sikh yatrees arrived here Sunday by special trains through Wahga Border to celebrate the 311th 'Besakhi' festival. Addressing on the occasion, ETPB Chairman Asif Hashmi said Pakistan is a protected place for the Sikh community and it is their home.
He recalled that the community had come in Pakistan for performing its religious rituals many times and the ETPB always provided them with the best lodging and transporting facilities. He assured that the government would provide every possible facility to the community so that they could perform their religious rituals with complete liberation.
To a question about Nankana Sahib University, Asif Hashmi said that construction work would be completed soon and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani would inaugurate the varsity. Upon arrival at Wahga Railway Station, group leader and President of Bhai Mardana Society Sardar Sohan Singh termed Pakistan their second home for the Sikh community, adding that their guru was born here. Whenever Sikh yatrees came in Pakistan for performing their religious rituals, they felt happy, he expressed.
He appreciated the arrangements made by ETPB for the protection and maintenance of 'gurdwaras', adding that Pakistan Railway, Pakistan Customs and immigration had made the best arrangements to facilitate the yatrees.
Earlier, Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Chairman Syed Asif Hashmi, members of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other officials warmly received the yatrees at Wagha Railway Station. The yatrees will leave for Punja Sahib Hassanabdal where they will stay till April 14. After attending the main functions of Besakhi festival, they will leave for Nankana Sahib where they will perform their religious rituals in Aimanabad and Dera Sahib, Lahore. Sikh yatrees will return to India on April 20.