KARTARPUR, PAKISTAN: Sikh pilgrims from India visiting the Kartarpur Darbar Sahib shrine in Pakistan called for peace recently as tensions between the two nations escalated.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors flared after a deadly militant attack on April 22 that killed at least 26 people, including tourists. India says two of the three militants involved were from Pakistan. Islamabad has denied any involvement.
After the attack, New Delhi suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan unilaterally, recalled defense staff, announced the closure of the main land Attari-Wagah border crossing with Pakistan, downgraded diplomatic ties, and withdrew special visas for Pakistani nationals. In response, Islamabad ordered the expulsion of Indian diplomats and military advisers, canceling the visas for Indian nationals with the exception of Sikh pilgrims.
“Small fights and disputes happen in every home. India and Pakistan are our homes,” Lovejeet Singh, a Sikh pilgrim from India’s Punjab state, said on Saturday. He stressed the need for peace and unity between the two states.
“Let’s solve these problems together; nothing is more important than humanity. These are small issues, let’s sit together and find solutions.”
The Kartarpur Corridor, a rare visa-free crossing point opened in 2019, has allowed Indian devotees to visit one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines despite strained political relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
According to international news agency AFP, troops from Pakistan and India exchanged fire in disputed Kashmir for the fourth night in a row on Sunday.
Kashmir has been disputed between India and Pakistan since independence from British rule in 1947. Both countries control parts of it but claim it in full and have fought two wars over the Himalayan territory.
Manjit Singh, another Sikh pilgrim from India, also called for ignoring tensions and moving toward peace.
“The tension should be completely removed and the brotherhood (between India and Pakistan) should flourish,” he said.
 

QUETTA: A blast triggered by an improvised explosive device (IED) killed two people and injured one in a coastal town in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, a local administration official said amid Islamabad’s struggle to contain surging militancy in the region. 
The roadside blast took place in Pasni, a small coastal town located around 142 kilometers from Pakistan’s port city of Gwadar in the southwestern Balochistan province.
Pasni Assistant Commissioner Moheem Khan Gichki said a vehicle carrying three men was targeted with a remote-controlled IED blast at the city’s Miskan Chowk area.
“Two local residents of Pasni were killed in the attack and one was injured, who was later shifted to Gwadar for better medical care,” Gichki told Arab News.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatists, especially the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who often target law enforcers, locals, and tribal elders they believe are backed by the Pakistani state.
Last month, the BLA hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province by almost all social and economic indicators, has been the site of a decades-long, low-scale insurgency launched by ethnic Baloch separatist groups. These militant groups accuse the federal government and Pakistan’s military of exploiting the province’s natural resources and denying the local population a share in their wealth.
Islamabad denies the allegations and claims the central government is allocating a large portion of development funds to fund health, education and infrastructure projects in the province.
Sunday’s attack was the third IED blast that had taken place in Balochistan in less than a week. Three soldiers of the Bomb Disposal Wing of the paramilitary Frontier Corps Balochistan were killed and four were injured in an IED blast on April 25.
Three people, including two women, were killed after a roadside IED blast targeted a private vehicle in the province’s Kalat district on April 24.