839 Sikh pilgrims on 10-day visit to Pakistan

Amritsar, April 12 (IANS) A batch of 839 devotees left for Pakistan on Friday to visit various Sikh shrines there on the occasion of Baisakhi.The group, under the aegis of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), includes both men and women.The visit comes amidst rising tensions between the two countries in the past nearly two months.The batch was given a send-off at the SGPC office at the Golden Temple complex here on Friday. They later boarded a train from Attari railway station, 30 km from here, to go to Pakistan.The pilgrims will visit Guru Nanank Dev's birth place Nankana Sahib, Panja Sahib gurdwara and other Sikh shrines.It will be a 10-day visit and all the devotees are set to return on April 21.The SGPC officials said that 872 people had applied for Pakistani visa but only 839 got it.
--IANS js/rs/mr