Sikh pilgrims close visit with prayers for peace
At Gurdwara Sri Dera Sahib, the pilgrims offered collective prayers for peace, interfaith understanding and improved Pakistan-India relations. Pakistani officials also hosted a cultural night at Hazuri Bagh and a ceremony at the Dayal Singh Trust Library in Lahore, where music and bhangra turned the final hours of the visit into a public display of warmth.
Evacuee Trust Property Board Chairman Qamaruz Zaman called the Hazuri Bagh program “a symbol of interfaith harmony, hospitality, and the enduring bond” between Pakistan and the Sikh community. Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora said many pilgrims were emotional as they prepared to leave, saying, “I can see tears of separation in their eyes.”
A rare opening amid restricted travel
The jatha, or pilgrim group, was closely watched from the start. Hindustan Times reported that 2,238 pilgrims crossed via the Attari-Wagah border April 10, making it the largest Sikh jatha to Pakistan since travel curbs tightened after Operation Sindoor in May 2025. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee sent 1,763 pilgrims from Amritsar, while other Sikh bodies also took part.
The 2026 pilgrimage also highlighted the difference between visas issued and travel completed. The Indian Express, citing the Pakistan High Commission, reported more than 2,800 visas for the April 10-19 festival and said pilgrims were expected to visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
Older journeys show the continuity of Sikh pilgrims’ route
The peaceful Wagah return was not an isolated event but part of a long, fragile rhythm of pilgrimage. The Associated Press documented the 2025 Vaisakhi gathering, when Pakistani authorities granted more than 6,500 visas to Indian Sikhs and the main ceremony was held at Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib. In 2024, Deccan Herald reported that Pakistan issued 2,843 visas for Baisakhi visits under the bilateral protocol on religious shrines, showing how the annual movement has continued through changing political weather.
Why the Wagah return matters
For Sikh families divided from sacred sites by the 1947 partition of British India, the return route carries more than immigration paperwork. It marks the end of a journey to shrines central to Sikh memory — Panja Sahib in Hasan Abdal, Nankana Sahib near Lahore and Kartarpur Sahib near Narowal — and a reminder that the geography of faith often predates the politics of borders.
This year’s pilgrims crossed back carrying stories of prayer halls, langar, markets, music and meetings with local hosts. Their peaceful return through Wagah gave the Baisakhi visit a measured but powerful close: a procession of devotion moving through one of South Asia’s most watched borders without losing its spiritual purpose.
