'You're Not Sikh': 14 Indian Hindus Denied Entry By Pak On Guru Nanak Jayanti

Fourteen Indian citizens initially allowed entry by Pakistan – part of a group of pilgrims travelling to Nankana Sahib, Sikhism founder Guru Nanak's birthplace, to celebrate his 556th birth anniversary – were sent back after officials reportedly snubbed them as Hindus and not Sikhs.The 14 were reportedly part of around 2,100 people whom the Union Home Ministry had cleared to visit Pakistan. Islamabad had issued travel documents to approximately the same number.On Tuesday an estimated 1,900 people entered Pak via the Wagah border crossing, marking the first people-to-people contact since Operation Sindoor, the four-day military conflict in May.But, it has now emerged that 14 of them, Hindu pilgrims – all of whom were Pakistani-born Sindhis who have obtained Indian citizenship looking to meet relatives there – were sent back.Sources told NDTV the 14 were told 'you are Hindu… you can't go with Sikh devotees'.Sources said the 14 included people from Delhi and Lucknow, and that they walked back 'humiliated' after Pak officials said only people tagged in their records as Sikh would be allowed.Apart from this, 300 people who had applied for visas independently were turned back at the India side of the border because they did not have the requisite Home Ministry approval.Akal Takht leader Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj, Shrimoni Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee delegation led by Bibi Gurinder Kaur and Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee's Ravinder Singh Sweeta were among those who crossed the Wagah border into Pakistan.The main ceremony will be held later today at Gurdwara Janamasthan, 80 km from Lahore.During their 10-day stay, the visiting Indian Sikh pilgrims will also visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib Hasan Abdal, Gurdwara Sacha Sauda Farooqabad, and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur.Tensions remain high between Delhi and Islamabad after Op Sindoor, which was India's military response to the terrorist attack on Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.Twenty-six people, mostly civilians, were gunned down in the attack, which was traced back to The Resistance Front, an offshoot of a Pak-sponsored terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.