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Express Tribune
06-08-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Punjab to celebrates Minority week from August 7
Listen to article The first-ever Minority Week is expected to commence from August 7 to 11 in Punjab. The five-day celebration aims to honour the contributions of religious minorities to Pakistan's social and national fabric while promoting interfaith harmony and national unity. The events are also designed to highlight the success of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, a campaign promoting peace and stability. According to the Punjab Department of Minority Affairs, Minority Week represents a concrete effort to promote religious tolerance, interfaith dialogue, and national cohesion by fostering meaningful engagement between followers of different faiths. The inaugural ceremony will be held on August 7 at the historic Cathedral Church of Pakistan at Regal Chowk, Lahore. A colourful procession aboard double-decker buses will travel through key religious and cultural landmarks, including Krishna Mandir, Gurdwara Dera Sahib, Badshahi Mosque, and the mausoleum of Allama Iqbal, culminating at Minar-e-Pakistan. A tree plantation campaign will also be launched during the opening event. A diverse range of participants, including foreign diplomats, civil society members, representatives of welfare organisations, students, teachers, religious leaders, and members of various minority communities, are expected to take part in the festivities. According to the official schedule, August 8 will feature an academic session at a leading university focusing on minority rights and their social contributions. On August 9, a seminar on interfaith harmony will be held at Alhamra Hall, Lahore, featuring notable religious scholars, civil society representatives, students, and researchers. The Sports Board Punjab will host a Sports Day on August 10, bringing together youth from minority communities for various traditional and competitive games. The celebrations will conclude on August 11 with a closing ceremony at Aiwan-e-Iqbal in connection with National Minorities Day. The final event will be attended by Punjab Minister for Minority Affairs Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, members of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, foreign dignitaries, senior government officials, religious leaders, and students and faculty from prominent educational institutions.
Hindustan Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Kartarpur Corridor shut from India's side indefinitely, Pak keeps doors open
Following escalating border tensions between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India has closed its side of the Kartarpur Corridor — the only active surface-level link between the two countries — indefinitely. The Union ministry of home affairs' bureau of immigration announced the closure of the corridor 'till further orders'. The closure has halted the pilgrimage of Indian Sikh devotees to the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Narowal district, Pakistan, while Pakistan continues to keep the corridor open on its side. On Wednesday morning, around 150 Sikh pilgrims who had arrived at the Dera Baba Nanak integrated check post in Gurdaspur district were turned back after waiting for over 90 minutes. In contrast, Pakistan has maintained that the Kartarpur Corridor remains open on its end. Ramesh Singh Arora, president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) and a former MLA, appointed as ambassador for the corridor, said, 'The corridor is open from our side. It is a conscious decision of our government to continue welcoming the pilgrims.' He added that the corridor was a symbol of peace, brotherhood and harmony propagated by Guru Nanak Dev. 'On Tuesday, we received about 200 pilgrims from India and suddenly, the next day, the arrival was zero. When we checked, we were told that India had stopped pilgrims from going to Kartarpur Corridor. Despite the corridor's close down from India's side, the Pakistan government has decided to keep it open as a goodwill gesture,' Arora told HT over WhatsApp. He added that PSGPC had also started the process for facilitating pilgrimage visas to Indian pilgrims for June to mark the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev. The corridor, inaugurated jointly by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on November 9, 2019, fulfilled a long-standing demand of the Sikh community to access one of their holiest shrines without a visa. Under the bilateral agreement, Indian devotees have visa-free, dawn-to-dusk access to the shrine, which has turned out be a meeting point of people from Indian and Pakistan Punjabs, divided since the Partition of 1947. The 4.7-km passage connects Dera Baba Nanak Sahib in India's Gurdaspur and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur, believed to be the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev. Despite its brief closure during the Covid-19 pandemic after just four months of inauguration, the corridor was reopened on November 17, 2021, and both countries renewed the agreement for another five years in 2024.
