Islamabad: Pakistan has decided to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur from next month amidst efforts to contain the fourth wave of the coronavirus.
The decision to open Kartarpur shrine was taken by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) due to the approaching death anniversary of Sikhism founder Baba Guru Nanak Dev on September 22.
NCOC meeting unanimously decided to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur next month under strict COVID-19 protocols. It is clarified that Kartarpur Corridor had never been closed by Pakistan for Indian Sikh Yatrees.
Religious tourism has great potential in Pakistan to promote people-to-people contacts in the subcontinent.
Indian government is unwilling to reopen its border and are preventing Indian Sikhs from visiting their holy sites.
It is worth mentioning here that due to the Delta variant, India had been in category C from May 22 till August 12, and special approval was required for people coming from the country, including Sikh pilgrims.
According to an official of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), Pakistan had introduced three categories to deal with the coronavirus spread.
Countries in category A are exempted from the mandatory COVID-19 test, travellers from areas falling in category B are required to present a negative PCR test that must be taken within 72 hours of the travel date, while visitors from nations in category C are restricted and can travel only under specific NCOC guidelines, the official said.
The restriction on visit to Kartarpur was being eased despite 3,842 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the national tally of confirmed cases to 1,123,812, according to the data shared by the Ministry of National Health Services.
Another 75 people died in this period and the death toll due to coronavirus reached 24,923. The positivity rate was 7.18 per cent which was highest in the last three days. Web Desk
