Pakistan: A 65-year-old Indian Sikh pilgrim died of a heart attack on Wednesday while he was in Lahore to attend the 'Vaisakhi Mela' festivities, officials said. According to Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) spokesperson Amir Hashmi, the man Jokindar Singh was a resident of Jalandhar's Taij Buhadar Nagar who arrived in Lahore via Wagah Border last Sunday and died of a heart attack on Tuesday.
A total of 2,470 pilgrims from India went to Pakistan last week for the Vaisakhi (Baisakhi) celebrations. "Singh who was staying at a residential block of the Gurdwara Nankana Sahib complained of chest pain after which he was shifted to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival," Hashmi said.
Singh was part of the group of Sardar Amar Jeet Singh, he said.
The district headquarters hospital Nankana Sahib issued his death certificate citing "cardiac arrest" as the cause of his death, the board spokesperson said. "The body was handed over to the Border Security Force at Wagah Border by ETPB additional secretary Rana Saleem and Pakistan Gurdwara Parbhandik Committee president Sardar Ameer Sigh," he said, adding that Indian Yatree Rubaal Singh accompanied the body to India.
Meanwhile, the remaining Sikh pilgrims left for Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal on Wednesday to take part in the main festival which will be held on Friday at Gurdwara Panja Sahib. The pilgrims will attend the ceremony of ‘Bhog Akhand Paath Sahib & Nagar Kirtan’ to celebrate the 324th Khalsa Janam Din.
They will also visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Narowal on April 16 and will return to India on April 18. Indian Sikh devotees visit Pakistan on pilgrimage all around the year to mark their various religious festivals. Gurudwara Nankana Sahib, also known as Gurudwara Janam Asthan, is the most sacred site (some 80 kms from Lahore) for the followers of Sikhism as the first Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak, was born there.
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