Pakistan says it will keep facilitating pilgrims' visits to holy sites
Pakistan issued more than 9,000 visas to Indian pilgrims in 2025, but India has suspended movement through the Kartarpur Corridor since May 2025.
Pakistan will keep letting followers of every faith visit their sacred places, the Foreign Office said on Friday.
FP Spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan made the remarks at his weekly media briefing in Islamabad, when asked about the issue.
He said Pakistan granted more than 9,000 visas to Indian pilgrims in 2025, among them Sikh and Hindu devotees.
Another 4,000-plus visas went to Sikh pilgrims in the first half of this year, he added.
Khan said Pakistan expects a large number of Sikh pilgrims at Nankana Sahib later this month, when the 557th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev is marked.
He pointed to the 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines between Pakistan and India, which he said provides a framework for pilgrimages between the two countries.
Pakistan set up the Kartarpur Corridor to make it easier for Sikh pilgrims to reach the holy site, he said, with more than 5,000 people able to visit each day and return the same day.
Khan said India has suspended pilgrim movement through the corridor since May 2025, but Pakistan is ready to receive pilgrims once the restrictions are lifted.
On a possible visit by the Chief Minister of Indian Punjab, he said Pakistan would consider issuing him a visa if he wished to come, though whether New Delhi allows the trip is a separate matter.
Khan also said Pakistan is taking steps to preserve Buddhist heritage sites, including those in Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, and has set up a special task force for that purpose.
The Kartarpur Corridor opened in 2019 as a crossing point linking Pakistan with the Sikh shrine in Kartarpur, which is located on the Pakistani side of the border.
