LAHORE  -  After celebrating the birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak, Indian Sikh pilgrims returned to India with beautiful memories of the Guru’s land, on Saturday.  They will always remember, what they said on their way back home, hospitality of the Pakistan government.  Speaking at the Wagha border crossing, the party leader of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Com

mittee, Sardar Gurmeet Singh, said: “we are very grateful to the federal government and the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) administration; Pakistan is a minority-friendly country, we enjoyed various facilities here.” He said “the respect we received in Pakistan is impossible to describe in words”. The party leader of the Delhi Gurdwara Management Committee, Sardar Harjit Singh, said “our gurdwaras have been restored to their original condition and their beauty. The Pakistani government made excellent arrangements for medical transport and hospitality”. Sikh pilgrims expressed their feelings and thanked the government of Pakistan and especially the ETPB chairman.

Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora, President of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, and Saifullah Khokhar, Additional Secretary Shrines ETPB, bid farewell to the Indian guests and presented them gifts. Ramesh Arora said minorities in Pakistan enjoy complete protection and religious freedom and all facilities including education and employment are equally available to them.

Saifullah Khokhar said Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Chaudhry Salik Hussain and ETPB Chairman Syed Atta-ur-Rehman were particularly interested in hospitality of pilgrims and interfaith harmony. “On their special instructions, we are always ready to welcome the guests coming from the neighbouring country, take the best measures for the pilgrims and performance of all the relevant institutions is commendable”. He said the ETPB was grateful to all security and administrative institutions and the media representatives who supported the hospitality of Sikh pilgrims.