Sikhs throng Pakistan to celebrate Baisakhi

Sikhs from India, Canada, the UK, the US and different parts of Pakistan have started gathering at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hassanabdal area of Pakistani’s Punjab province to celebrate Baisakhi, the festival of harvest that formally began on Monday.

The festival also marks the beginning of the Sikh New Year.

During the celebrations, thousands of Sikhs will renew their pledge to brotherhood and harmony, as enshrined in the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib.

Tenth guru Guru Gobind Singh was born in Patna, but later migrated to Hassanabdal, where he continued preaching Sikhism.

Sikhs believe during his stay in Hassanabdal, Guru Gobind Singh was one day refused water by a local preacher and on insistence, a huge stone was hurled at his followers from the top of a hill.

They believe when Guru Gobind Singh stopped this stone with his hand, it miraculously turned into a loaf of wax and still bears the imprint of his panja (palm).

The panja is a symbol of shanti (peace) that inspires Sikhs to piety and brotherhood.

Sikhs believe touching the palm print mitigates miseries and hardships. The three-day annual celebrations begin on the first day of Baisakh, the fifth month of the Bikrami calendar (April 12) with the recitation of the Guru Granth Sahib.