Indian Pilgrims Return From Pakistan; Sikh Woman Goes Missing

The Sikh jatha (group) returned after 10 days via Attari-Wagah border on 14 Nov after attending the celebrations of first Sikh Sovereign, Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary at Nankana Sahib, Pakistani Panjab. The pilgrims also visited other major Sikh shrines in Pakistan, including Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Hasan Abdal; Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, Narowal; Gurdwara Sacha Sauda, Gurdwara Dehra Sahib, Lahore; and Gurdwara Rori Sahib, Eminabad. Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president and Pakistan Panjab’s minorities minister Ramesh Singh Arora and Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) Additional Secretary Nasir Mushtaq were among the officials who saw the jatha off at the Wagah border. During the pilgrimage, 52-year-old Sarbjit Kaur of Amanipur village in Indian Panjab's Kapurthala district went missing. Sarabjit has supposedly converted to Islam, named herself Noor Hussain. She has married Nasir Hussain a resident of Sheikhupura, about 56 km from Lahore. A nikahnama (an Islamic wedding contract) in Urdu has now surfaced. Sarabjit was divorced and has two sons with her ex-husband, Karnail Singh, who has been living in England for nearly 30 years. Sarabjit knew Nasir for the last nine years. The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has said it is planning to bar single women travellers from joining jathas to Pakistan and tighten norms in this regard. In April 2018, a Sikh jatha member Kiran Bala had failed to return to India after she embraced Islam and changed her name to Amna Bibi after marrying a Lahore man. SGPC member and former general secretary Bibi Kiranjot Kaur said, 'One woman does not represent all Sikh women. The decision to bar single women from jathas is ridiculous.' In the Court of Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Warraich, in Lahore, Sarabjit denied she was abducted. She said, 'I happily married Hussain,' and added, 'some people threatened to register a false case against us.' She has urged the Pakistan government to provide her and her husband with security. An official said, 'She may be deported and asked to come back to Pakistan on a spouse visa.' Meanwhile, 67-year-old Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Chawke village in Bathinda district, died of cardiac arrest during the pilgrimage (earlier coverage).