A group of Sikh devotees from India on Monday started off their spiritual journey as part of a religious procession from Delhi to Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, the High Commission in Delhi said.
The 'Nagar Kirtan' (procession) is led by Sardar Paramjit Singh Sarna, the former president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, and includes representatives from different sections of the Sikh community in India, the Pakistan High Commission said in a statement.
On Monday morning, the procession was sent off by several dignitaries, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it said.
Acting High Commissioner of Pakistan Syed Haider Shah also attended the send-off ceremony as a special guest, the statement added.
The 'Nagar Kirtan' via Ludhiana and Amritsar would be crossing over to Pakistan on October 31 through the Wagah border, the High Commission said.
This 'Nagar Kirtan' from India is being welcomed by Pakistan as a special gesture this year on the auspicious occasion of the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, the statement added.
"Around 1,300 visas, issued for the 'Nagar Kirtan', are over and above the 'jatha' covered under the 'Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines 1974' between Pakistan and India," the statement said.
In accordance with the historic initiative of Prime Minister Imran Khan to open the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor, to be inaugurated on November 9, for Sikhs and other 'Naamlevas' of Guru Nanak Dev, Pakistan has facilitated visits of a number of Sikh 'jathas' not only from India but across the globe, it said.
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