Pakistan agrees to allow Indian 'ragis' at Kartarpur Gurdwara: SGPC

The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC) has agreed to allow Sikh 'ragis' from India to recite kirtan at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur, SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal said here on Tuesday.

He said the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had made a proposal to send Sikh 'ragis' from the Golden Temple here to recite kirtan at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan's Kartarpur.

"The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) president has agreed on the proposal by the SGPC on sending sikh 'ragis' to recite kirtan at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib," Longowal said in a media statement.

"The SGPC will soon start sending its 'ragis' (who sing religious hymns) from the Golden Temple to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 9 last year inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor that links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.

An SGPC official said on Tuesday that after the corridor was opened a group of 'ragis' used to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur every morning, perform kirtan and return by evening.

But the PSGPC later objected to it and the practice had to be aborted, he said, adding the SGPC sent its last three-member 'ragi' jatha, led by Bhai Shaukeen Singh, through the Kartarpur corridor on December 16.

The corridor was inaugurated as part of the celebration to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

Meanwhile, the SGPC on Tuesday started a free bus service for pilgrims from Amritsar to Dera Baba Nanak.