Fall in the number of Sikh pilgrims visiting Pak from India

M Zulqernain

Lahore, Apr 12 (PTI) There has been a sharp fall in the
number of Sikh pilgrims visiting Pakistan from India and other
countries to observe Baisakhi festival in the wake of recent
terror attacks in the country.

"A total of 375 Sikhs from India and over 100 from
Britain, Canada and other countries arrived in Lahore to take
part in the festival being held at Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal,"
Faraz Abbas, Deputy Director (shrines) with the Evacuee Trust
Property Board, told PTI.

Abbas said it appeared that recent terror attacks in
Lahore had scared away a large number of pilgrims.

Last year, over 4,000 Sikhs from India had attended the
festival but the figure is lower this year due to tensions
between the two countries in the wake of the Mumbai terror
attacks. Officials had yesterday said they were expecting over
1,000 Indian Sikhs.

In the past few weeks, Lahore witnessed an audacious
terrorist attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team at a
busy traffic roundabout in the heart of the city. Eight
persons were killed in the assault.

Terrorists also stormed a police training centre near
Lahore last month, killing eight recruits and injuring 90
others.
The government has made elaborate arrangements to provide
security to the visiting Sikh pilgrims, by deploying the
paramilitary Pakistan Rangers for the first time to guard
them. CCTV cameras, walk-through gates and metal detectors
have also been installed at the places to be visited by the
pilgrims.

Parkash Kaur, a pilgrim from Amritsar, told The News
daily that her son had asked her not to travel to Pakistan but
she decided to come because she "knew the Pakistani people
were peaceful and only some hidden elements wanted to create
hatred and bad blood between the two countries". PTI MZ
SAK
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