PM Imran Khan felicitates Sikh community on Guru Nanak's 551st birth anniversary

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that the rights of all religious minorities in the country would be safeguarded as he felicitated the Sikh community on the 551st birth anniversary of Baba Dev Guru Nanak.

In his virtual address, the prime minister assured the Sikh community that the state would fully protect their holy sites in Pakistan — including the two most sacred ones in Nankana Sahib and Katarpur.

Both the sites are as sacred to Sikhs as Makkah and Madina for the Muslims, the premier said, stressing that the incumbent government would extend every possible assistance and facility to the Sikh community.

"Pakistan recently revamped the railway station of Hassan Abdal to facilitate the pilgrims intending to visit the holy Punja Sahib," he recalled.

PM Imran Khan reiterated that all religious sites in the country would be given protection, adding that the policy of the PTI-led government is to protect all religious minorities in Pakistan and also their holy places, may it be churches, temples, or Buddhist monasteries.

The main ceremony for the celebrations of Guru Nanak's birth anniversary took place at Gurdwara Janamasthan in Nankana Sahib. The celebrations also included the Nagar Kirtan procession, followed by the Bhog ritual at night.

The prime minister last year had opened the Kartarpur Corridor on the 550th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, as a goodwill gesture to facilitate Sikhs within the country and from across the border.