Thousands cross India-Pakistan border for Vaisakhi

About 2000 Sikh Pilgrims from India celebrated the Sikh festival Vaisakhi by travelling to the neighbouring country, despite the prevailing tensions within the two countries.

HasanAbdal:Despite the tension between India and Pakistan thousands of Indian pilgrims have crossed the border into Pakistan to celebrate a Sikh festival at a temple in the northwest of the country.

Around 2000 Sikhs pilgrims arrived from neighbouring India to celebrate one of the most important festivals in the Sikh religion.

More than ten-thousand Sikh pilgrims from around the world, but mainly from the sub-continent, converged in a temple on Sunday.

The festival of Vaisakhi, also known as Baisakhi, took place at a temple in the town of Hasan Abdal in Punjab Province, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The festival commemorates the day in 1699 when Sikh leader Guru Gobind Singh established certain customs for the Sikh religion - founded 200 years earlier - such as giving all men the name Singh and forbidding them from cutting their hair or beards.

To mark the celebrations devotees attend the Gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship.

Pilgrims also flock to touch the imprint of a hand on a stone wall believed to be that of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion.

During the celebration, pilgrims also wash and children pray in the sacred waters that surround the inner sanctum of the Gurdwara.

The water has a special significance for the bathers.

Sikhs believe the spring that feeds the moat was created through a miracle performed by Guru Nanak by making an endless fountain of water spring up from barren land.

During their eight-day stay in Pakistan, the pilgrims will also visit several other Sikh temples.

Despite India's and Pakistan's complicated relationship, increasing numbers of people from both nations are now travelling to each other's countries to visit religious sites, meet with relatives and watch sporting events.

There are now an estimated 20 (m) million Sikhs worldwide, the majority being in the Sikh homeland of Punjab in India.