Days after Pakistani authorities denied Sikh pilgrims a visit by air to India, a demand has been growing in India to request the Pakistan government to facilitate its Sikh pilgrims to travel to India through the Wagah-Attari Joint Check Post (JCP).Tarlochan Singh, former chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, said that since the majority of the Sikh population in Pakistan comes from middle-class families, air travel to India via the Gulf is costly for them. The Pakistan government should arrange their visit by road through the JCP, he added.Tarlochan said the travel between India and Pakistan has been closed since Operation Sindoor yet the Indian government is allowing Sikh jathas to Pakistan through the JCP. A similar procedure can be initiated by the Pakistan government for its Sikhs, he added.As many as 104 Pakistani Sikh pilgrims having valid Indian visas were denied permission to board a flight from Faisalabad to Sharjah on Thursday for their onward journey to India, allegedly because they didn’t have a no-objection certificate. They were scheduled to visit Gurdwara Hemkunt Sahib in Uttarakhand.In a video message from Pakistan, Mahinder Pal Singh, former parliamentary secretary, Ministry of Human Rights and Minority Affairs, Punjab, also demanded reimbursement of the pilgrims’ losses and to facilitate their visit to India through the JCP.Demanding an apology from the Pakistan government for the lapse, he sought action against the officials who scuttled the pilgrimage. “These steps would show the world that Pakistan welcomes the Sikh community and takes care of them,” he said.Papinder Singh, leader of the Pakistani jatha, said the Pakistani Sikh pilgrims had also made this request to their government and were assured that they were contemplating the issue.