A jatha of 92 Pakistan Sikh pilgrims was denied permission to board a flight from Faisalabad to Sharjah late Thursday night for their onward journey to India, where they were scheduled to visit Gurdwara Hemkunt Sahib in Uttarakhand, citing non-availability of no Objection Certificate (NOC).Sikh pilgrims had gathered at Pakistan’s Faisalabad airport to board the flight, scheduled to take off at 2:10 am, but were unable to proceed with their journey.Jatha leader Pappender Singh, while conveying the pilgrims’ ordeal over the phone to Paramjit Singh Chandok, chairman of the Yatra Department of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (DSGMC), said the pilgrims had been asked to produce an NOC despite holding valid passports and visas for India.Chandok said an NOC for a Pakistani passport was required only in the case of government, semi-government or autonomous-body employees. Citing information from the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports, he said ordinary citizens did not require an NOC to apply for or renew a passport.He said the pilgrims had valid Indian visas. The Sikh jatha had to take flight via the Gulf to reach India as both neighbouring countries had restricted the airspace for each other after Operation Sindoor.Chandok alleged that the pilgrims, including elderly persons, women and children, faced considerable distress after being stopped from boarding the flight.He also attributed the incident to a split among the Sikh leadership in Pakistan aligning with the political parties of Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Nawaz Sharif family’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N).The pilgrims were associated with Bishen Singh, former president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC). The committee is currently headed by Ramesh Singh Arora, who is a pro PML-N.