Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines 1974

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The Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines 1974 is a bilateral agreement between India and Pakistan facilitating Indian and Pakistani nationals to visit certain religious shrines in both countries. [1] [2] [3] As of November 2018, fifteen locations in Pakistan and five in India are covered under this protocol. [4]

Contents

List of locations

These are a list of locations covered by the protocol: [4]

In India

  1. Ajmer Sharif Dargah, dedicated to sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan
  2. Nizamuddin Dargah, dedicated to sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, in Delhi
  3. Amir Khusro, dedicated to Sufi musician Amir Khusro in Delhi
  4. Sirhind Sharif, Mujaddid Alf Sani in Sirhind, Punjab, India
  5. Kalyar Sharif, dedicated to sufi saint Alauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir, near Haridwar

In Pakistan

  1. Shadani Darbar in Hyat Pitafi, Ghotki
  2. Katasraj Dham in Lahore
  3. Gurudwaras of Nankana Sahib
  4. Gurudwara Panja Sahib, Rawalpindi
  5. Samadhi of Ranjit Singh, Lahore
  6. Gurudwara Dera Sahib, Lahore
  7. Gurudwara Janam Asthan, Lahore
  8. Gurudwara Deewan Khana, Lahore
  9. Gurudwara Shaheed Ganj, Singhanian, Lahore
  10. Gurudwara Bhai Tara Singh, Lahore
  11. Gurudwara of Sixth Guru, Mozang, Lahore
  12. Birthplace of Guru Ram Das, Lahore
  13. Gurudwara Cheveen Padshahi, Mozang, Lahore
  14. Shrine of Data Ganj Bakhsh, Lahore
  15. Mirpur Mathelo, Sindh

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The Chishtī Order is a Sunni Sufi order within the mystic Sufi tradition of Islam. It began in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan, about 930 CE. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. Chishti Sharif is name of village in Afghanistan near Iran border.

Nizamuddin Auliya

Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya, also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Mahbub-e-Ilahi was a Sunni Muslim scholar, Sufi saint of the Chishti Order, and is one of the most famous Sufis from the Indian Subcontinent. His predecessors were Fariduddin Ganjshakar, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, and Moinuddin Chishti, who were the masters of the Chishti spiritual chain or silsila in the Indian subcontinent.

Chishtī Muʿīn al-Dīn Ḥasan Sijzī, known more commonly as Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī or Moinuddin Chishti or Khwājā Ghareeb Nawaz, or reverently as a Shaykh Muʿīn al-Dīn or Muʿīn al-Dīn or Khwājā Muʿīn al-Dīn by Muslims of the Indian subcontinent, was a Persian Muslim preacher, ascetic, religious scholar, philosopher, and mystic from Sistan, who eventually ended up settling in the Indian subcontinent in the early 13th-century, where he promulgated the famous Chishtiyya order of Sunni mysticism. This particular tariqa (order) became the dominant Muslim spiritual group in medieval India and many of the most beloved and venerated Indian Sunni saints were Chishti in their affiliation, including Nizamuddin Awliya and Amir Khusrow. As such, Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī's legacy rests primarily on his having been "one of the most outstanding figures in the annals of Islamic mysticism." Additionally Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī is also notable, according to John Esposito, for having been one of the first major Islamic mystics to formally allow his followers to incorporate the "use of music" in their devotions, liturgies, and hymns to God, which he did in order to make the foreign Arab faith more relatable to the indigenous peoples who had recently entered the religion or whom he sought to convert. Others contest that the Chisti order ever permitted musical instruments and a famous Chisti, Nizamuddin Auliya, is quoted as stating that musical instruments are prohibited.

Dargah

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Fariduddin Ganjshakar 12th-century Punjabi Muslim preacher,poet and mystic

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Nizamuddin Dargah is the dargah (mausoleum) of the Sufi saint Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi, the dargah is visited by thousands of pilgrims every week. The site is also known for its evening qawwali devotional music sessions. The descendants of Nizamuddin Auliya look after the whole management of dargah Sharif.

Sirhind-Fategarh City in Punjab, India

Sirhind-Fatehgarh is a city and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab.

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur Sikh gurdwara in Kartarpur, Pakistan

Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur, also called Kartarpur Sahib, is a gurdwara in Kartarpur, located in Shakargarh, Narowal District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is built on the historic site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, settled and assembled the Sikh community after his missionary travels and lived for 18 years until his death in 1539. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib.

Ustad Bahauddin Khan Qawwal was a Pakistani Qawwali musician.

Most holy sites in Sufism are shrines dedicated to various Sufi Saints - spiritually elevated ascetics from various mystical orders within Islam. Shrines are widely scattered throughout the Islamic world. Pilgrimages to them are known as Ziyarat. Traditional annual commemorations of the saint's death held at his shrine are known as Urs In several countries, the local shrine is a focal point of the community, with several localities named specifically for the local saint.

Gurdwara Janam Asthan

Gurdwara Janam Asthan, also referred to as Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, is a highly revered gurdwara that was built at the site where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, was believed to be born. The shrine is located in the city of Nankana Sahib, near the city of Lahore in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

Religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a sacred place or shrine of importance to a person's beliefs and faith. Members of every major religion participate in pilgrimages. A person who makes such a journey is called a pilgrim.

Ajmer Sharif Dargah Sufi shrine of Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, Rajasthan, India

Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Ajmer Dargah, Ajmer Sharif or Dargah Sharif is a sufi shrine (dargah) of the revered sufi saint, Moinuddin Chishti, located at Ajmer, Rajasthan, India. The shrine has Chisti's grave (Maqbara).

Shaheed Ganj Mosque, originally named after the Gurdwara it was built across was commissioned during the reign of Mughal Emperor Alamgir II and built by Abdullah Khan construction was completed in 1758 it was constructed next to the small Gurdwara decimated to a shrine, in memory of Taru Singh martyrdom in refusing to convert to Islam along with the Mughal slaughter of 100,000 Sikh men, women and children and was located in Naulakha Bazaar area of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Sikh rule began in 1762, the Gurdwara Bhai Taru Singh was built afterwards on the reduced shrine that had been a makeshift Gurdwara.

Syed Zainul Abedin

Syed Zainul Abedin is the Dewan of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah founded by Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti, according to the APEX Court of India. He is the successor of Khwaja Gareeb Nawaz, and is also known as Dargah Dewan, successor, Sajjadanashin of the Chishti order of Sufism, Gaddinashin, Pir and Sheikhul Mashaeikh Dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan Sahib of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah.

Shrine of Baba Farid

The Shrine of Baba Farid is a 13th-century Sufi shrine located in Pakpattan, Pakistan, that is dedicated to the Sufi mystic Fariduddin Ganjshakar, popularly known as Baba Farid. The shrine is one of the most important in Pakistan, and was among the first Islamic holy sites in South Asia – providing the region's Muslims a local focus for devotion. The shrine is also revered by Sikhs, who include Baba Farid's poetry into the Guru Granth Sahib - regarded by Sikhs to be the eternal Guru.

Kartarpur Corridor Border corridor between the neighbouring nations of India and Pakistan

The Kartarpur Corridor is a visa-free border crossing and secure corridor, connecting the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan to the border with India. The crossing allows Sikh devotees from India to visit the gurdwara in Kartarpur, 4.7 kilometres from the India–Pakistan border on the Pakistani side without a visa. However Pakistani Sikhs are unable to use the border crossing, and cannot access Dera Baba Nanak on the Indian side without first obtaining an Indian visa or unless they work there.

Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singh Singhania Historic Gurdware in Lahore, Pakistan

The Gurdwara Shahid Ganj Singh Singhania, also known as Gurdwara Shaheedganj Singh Singhnian, is a historic Sikh Gurdwara at Naulakha Bazaar in Lahore, Pakistan, which marks the site where over 100,000 Sikh men and women lost their lives in the 18th Century. It is located opposite Gurudwara Bhai Taru Singh. Bhai Mani Singh was martyred at this site on 14 June 1738.

References

  1. "Pant-Mirza Agreement". Press Information Bureau, National Informatics Centre (NIC), India. Archived from the original on 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  2. "Protocol on visits to Religious Shrines". Ministry of External Affairs, India. 14 September 1974. Archived from the original on 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  3. "Q.*316 Denial of visa by Pakistan". Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  4. 1 2 "Express Fact Check | Visas for pilgrims: 15 shrines in Pak, 5 in India under protocol". The Indian Express. 27 November 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-12-14. Retrieved 2018-12-11.