2024-04-20 14:10:41
Lahore: Maryam Nawaz, Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province, on Thursday met a group of Sikh pilgrims, most of whom have come from India. He recalled that his father Nawaz Sharif had said that the country should not fight with its neighbours. Around 2,400 Sikhs from India are currently traveling to Pakistan to participate in the Baisakhi festival. Addressing the gathering at Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Maryam quoted her father and three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying, ‘We should not fight with our neighbours. We need to open our hearts to them.’Sikh pilgrims reached Kartarpur Sahib on Thursday to pay obeisance at the tomb of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev. Mary had also planned to meet him there. Maryam (50) is considered the political successor of Nawaz Sharif. She was elected the first woman Chief Minister of Pakistan in February. Maryam said that this is the first time that the festival of Baisakhi is being celebrated at the government level in Pakistan. He said, ‘This is my Punjab and we are celebrating all the minority festivals like Holi, Easter and Baisakhi together.’
‘Messages received from India’
He further said, ‘We want to speak Punjabi here like the people of Indian Punjab. My grandfather, Mian Sharif, caste Umra, was a resident of Amritsar. When a Punjabi Indian caste brought Umra soil, I placed it on his grave. Maryam hugged an Indian woman who had come from Amritsar and greeted each other. She said that after becoming the first woman Chief Minister of a province in Pakistan, she received many congratulatory messages from Punjab, India.
Nawaz has been calling for improving relations with India
Nawaz Sharif wants normal relations with India. Nawaz Sharif is the leader of a class which includes the businessmen of Pakistan. Pakistan’s trade with India is closed. Nawaz Sharif has been advocating good relations with India in election rallies in Pakistan. In an election speech he had said that his government would maintain good relations with its neighbours. Although he used the word neighbors in his address. Because in recent times, Pakistan’s relations with Iran and Afghanistan have also been seen as tense.