Two holy places set to be linked on Mar 24

Amritsar, Mar 22 (UNI) Guru Nanak Devji, the first Sikh guru, who was born at Nankana Sahib often came to Amritsar to meet his most revered disciple, Angad who would travel all the way from Khadoor Sahib to listen to the views of the Guru.

During these meetings Guru Nanak would tell his disciple that a day would come when Amritsar would become a place of importance where saints would meet. The Guru had also predicted that the city would become a place of pilgrimage where people from across the globe would come and bow their heads.

True to the Guru's words, Amritsar which was founded by the fourth sikh guru, Guru Ram Dass, became a centre of pilgrimage when the Guru laid the foundation of the Golden Temple. Nankana Sahib, now in Pakistan, too became an important place for Sikhs after the death of Guru Nanak.

On March 24 history will be created, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will flag off the 45-seater luxury Volvo coach, which would link the city of the Golden Temple with the birthplace of Guru Nanak. The link will facilitate the pilgrims of both the countries to visit these two important religious places on both sides of the border.

The link will grant the Sikhs in India an easy access to the holy town of Nankana Sahib, the 'janam asthan' (birth place) of Guru Nanak, which is a mere 160 km from this holy city.

With this link the prayers of the Sikhs will finally be answered as after partition 'access' to Nankana Sahib, perhaps the most important place of pilgrimage for Sikhs along with Panja Sahib and Dera Sahib in Lahore, had never been easy for a majority of the Sikh families residing in India. The only occassion they got to pay obeisance at Nankana Sahib and other religious places in Pakistan was with the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandik Committee (SGPC) 'jathas' on the occasion of 'Baisakhi', the birth anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the martyrdom day of Guru Arjan Dev and the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak that falls in November.

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