New Delhi: Even after India lodged a protest with Pakistan, Indian consular officials were again reportedly harassed and barred from access to Indian pilgrims for the third time recently at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, on Friday.
As Sikhs around the world get ready to mark birth anniversary of founder of Sikhism, thousands of Indian pilgrims make a beeline for Pakistan to celebrate the occasion at Nankana Sahib and other holy places.
This time, Pakistan has issued an unprecedented number of 3,800 visas for Sikh pilgrims for Guru Nanak Jayanti.
“Indian teams from the high commission usually go to Pakistani gurudwaras when there are a large number of pilgrims who could require consular assistance.
India lodged a “strong protest” at around 11 am this morning with Pakistan government after their officials were “harassed and denied access” on November 21 and 22 at Gurudwara Nankana Sahib and Gurudwara Sacha Sauda.
Even after the official Indian protest, Indian consular officials were stopped for the consecutive third time at Nankana Sahib at around 11.30 am on Friday.
“They were stopped from performing their diplomatic duties and were even harassed,” said sources, noting that they had been granted permission by the Pakistan foreign ministry.
Similar to the previous incidents, Indian officials returned to Islamabad “without performing their diplomatic and consular duties vis-a-vis Indian pilgrims”.
Around 3,800 Indian Sikh pilgrims have been issued visas by Pakistan this year. Credit: Reuters file photo
India has pointed out in its protest latter out that Pakistan high commissioner, and his colleagues, had been allowed to visit and meet Pakistani pilgrims at Kaliyar Sharif dargah near Roorkee.
These incidents are significant in the background of India’s approval for the long-standing demand for construction of a new visa-free, cross-border pilgrim corridor connecting Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur and Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
Indian president Ram Nath Kovind is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the corridor project at Dera Baba Nanak area on November 26, two days ahead of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ground-breaking ceremony at Kartarpur.
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According to Indian sources, one of the key points for the planned Kartarpur Sahib corridor is for “free and readily available consular access for Indian citizens on the Pakistani side”.
Coupled with the Indian demand for the corridor to be operational 24 hours a day all year around, it remains to be seen if this condition of consular access can be fulfilled on the ground when there will be a larger influx of pilgrims through the corridor.
India had previously lodged a protest in June, when Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria was stopped from meeting Sikh pilgrims at Gurudwara Panja Sahib.
Meanwhile, India has also expressed “grave concern” at attempts to create “disharmony and intolerance and promote secessionist tendencies with the objective of undermining India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
A video circulated on social media shows a procession taken out in Nankana Sahib with Khalistan flags and slogans on Friday.
The Indian protest letter asserts that the treatment to the consular officials is in violation of several international and bilateral treaties, Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, bilateral protocol on visit to religious shrines, and code of conduct for the treatment of diplomatic or consular personnel in India and Pakistan.