Pakistan has decided to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur from next month amidst efforts to contain the fourth wave of the coronavirus. The decision to open Kartarpur shrine was taken by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday due to the approaching death anniversary of Sikhism founder Baba Guru Nanak Dev on September 22.
Dawn newspaper reported that the NCOC meeting unanimously decided to allow Sikh pilgrims to visit Kartarpur next month under strict COVID-19 protocols. Due to the Delta variant, India had been in category C in Pakistan from May 22 till August 12, and special approval was required for people coming from the country, including Sikh pilgrims.
However, now fully vaccinated persons with certificates will be allowed to enter Pakistan provided they show real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test reports which should not be more than 72 hours old. Apart from this, Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) will also be conducted at…