Sikh procession to cross Wagah for Lahore on martyrdom day

Amritsar, May 22 (UNI) Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Avtar Singh today said that a religious procession from Amritsar to Lahore would be carried out to mark the martyrdom day of the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Devi.

''We will go ahead with our programme of nagar kirtan to Lahore,'' he said, while talking to newsmen on his return from Pakistan at the Wagah joint check post near here.

He, however, made it clear that a jatha of 500 Sikh devotees would proceed from the Golden Temple in Amritsar to cross the Wagah joint check post on June 12, while the other pilgrims wuld go by train two days before on June 10.

This has been decided after he and other SGPC representatives held talks with the Paksitan authorities in Lahore, who said the Sikh procession via the Wagah joint check post be limited to 500 persons only, the SGPC president said.

Mr Makkar, who had gone to Lahore to attend a meeting in connection with the preparation for the mega event, said that the Pakistan government had declined their request of a 10,000 strong 'jatha' by road as there were no proper infrastructure acilities for such a huge number of people on the other side of the Wagah border.

''We have decided to send a small jatha of 500 Sikhs in the form of procession via the Wagah check post on the request of the Pakistani authorities,'' he clarified.

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