With more than 7,500 Sikh devotees having submitted their passports for the annual pilgrimage to Pakistan, SGPC on Tuesday urged the Pakistan High Commission to go beyond the prescribed quota and issue visas to the maximum possible number of pilgrims for Guru Nanak Dev’s Parkash Gurpurab celebrations at Nankana Sahib in November.A high-level SGPC delegation, led by its president Harjinder Singh Dhami, met Pakistan High Commission Charge d’Affaires Ahmed Waraich in New Delhi and submitted a written representation seeking visas for all eligible pilgrims.Speaking with reporters outside the High Commission, Dhami said SGPC had received more than 7,500 passports from devotees seeking to travel to Pakistan for the celebrations marking the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.“Every Sikh has a desire to participate in the celebrations to be held at Gurdwara Sri Nankana Sahib,” Dhami said, urging the Pakistan High Commission to issue visas generously in view of the religious sentiments attached to the pilgrimage.Under the India-Pakistan agreements governing visits to religious shrines, the SGPC sends a jatha (group) of Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan every year. Dhami said the Pakistan High Commission usually grants visas to around 1800 pilgrims sent by SGPC.The sharp rise in demand, he said, was linked in part to the closure of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor and the non-availability, for some time, of visas to privately organised Sikh groups. These factors, he said, had further heightened the desire among devotees to visit the historic gurdwaras in Pakistan.“More than 7,500 Sikh pilgrims have submitted their passports to the SGPC office,” Dhami said, describing the number not merely as a figure but as an expression of the community’s “deep devotion and emotional attachment” to Guru Nanak Dev and the historic gurdwaras associated with him.SGPC has therefore sought a special dispensation from the Pakistan High Commission to accommodate the unusually large number of applicants, going beyond the normal quota.Dhami said the pilgrimage was undertaken for religious reasons — to pay obeisance at historic gurdwaras and participate in celebrations associated with Guru Nanak Dev — and urged Pakistan to view the visa request in that context.The appeal comes as the Kartarpur Sahib corridor remains suspended, adding another layer to the community’s demand for easier access to Sikh shrines across the border.The visa-free corridor linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur was suspended on May 7, 2025, following the Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent deterioration in India-Pakistan relations.The Centre had reiterated in the Lok Sabha last month that the corridor would remain suspended, saying the “extant security scenario” compelled its continued closure.The Government has, however, acknowledged receiving representations from Sikh religious organisations seeking its reopening.Despite the corridor’s suspension, Sikh groups have continued to travel to Pakistan for important religious occasions under the 1974 India-Pakistan Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, subject to government approval and security clearances.Dhami also appealed to the Government of India to take up the visa issue with Pakistan and facilitate the travel of the maximum possible number of devotees.He reiterated SGPC’s demand that the Kartarpur Sahib corridor be reopened immediately, saying the sentiments of the Sikh community should be kept in mind.