Sikh pilgrims subjected to anti-India propaganda by Pakistan

NEW DELHI: India has conveyed to Pakistan that Sikh pilgrims visiting the country four times in a year are regularly subjected to anti-India propaganda and the Khalistan agenda.
In a dossier given to Pakistan, New Delhi also said a Federal Minister of Pakistan even eulogised the slain Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani and told the Sikh pilgrims in an address that the Sikhs and Kashmiris are treated like "slaves" by the Indian government.

The four annual Indian Sikh 'Jathas' that visit important gurdwaras in Pakistan every year under the bilateral Protocol to visit Religious Shrines, 1974, have been regularly subjected to anti-India propaganda during their visit against the spirit of the visit and in complete subversion of the objectives of the bilateral arrangement, the dossier said.

"Unfortunately, a large part of this propaganda is perpetuated during the religious functions organised by Evacuee Trust Property Board, Pakistan and the forum has been exploited to promote the agenda of Khalistan instead of focusing on the religious discourse," it said.

Some blatant instances of such anti-India propaganda during the visits of Indian Jathas in the recent years were also narrated in the dossier, accessed by PTI.

In 2016, during the Guru Nanak Dev Ji anniversary, Sardar Slohammad Yousuf, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Harmony, in his address at the main function in Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, eulogised Burhan Wani and alleged that the Sikhs and Kashmiris are treated like "slaves" by the Indian government, the dossier said.

The dossier was presented to Pakistan during the recently concluded bilateral meeting on the Kartarpur Sahib corridor held in Wagah.