Amritsar, September 11, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami has termed the reported detention of 104 Sikh pilgrims from Pakistan at Faisalabad airport, who were scheduled to travel to India to visit Sikh shrines, as highly unfortunate.
Reacting to the development, Dhami said the pilgrims who had obtained visas from the Indian government should have been permitted to enter India through the Wagah-Attari land route. If that was not possible, he said, they should at least have been allowed to travel by air.
He said stopping the pilgrims at the Faisalabad airport at the last moment, after they had made arrangements for their religious journey, was hurtful to their religious sentiments. According to him, religious pilgrimages are deeply connected with human emotions and faith.
Dhami said that once the Indian government had duly issued visas to the pilgrims, preventing them from travelling to India and imposing new conditions at the final stage of their journey was distressing for the devotees.
He urged the Pakistan government to immediately allow the pilgrims stopped at Faisalabad airport to travel to India. If air travel was not possible for any reason, he said, the authorities should permit them to cross through the Attari-Wagah land route.
The SGPC president also appealed to the governments of both countries to adopt a more sincere and accommodating approach towards religious pilgrimages instead of creating obstacles for devotees.
He said Sikh pilgrims should be able to visit gurdwaras and complete their religious journeys without unnecessary restrictions or disruptions.
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