Nearly 1,000 Sikhs from Pakistan on Monday prayed at Golden Temple in Amritsar for warm relations between India and Pakistan so that their children could marry in India.
The Sikhs were in Amritsar to participate in the 400th anniversary celebrations of the installation of the 'Guru Granth Sahib' in the Golden Temple.
"It has become difficult for the Sikh families in Pakistan to get suitable match for their children in the country. Hence we are interested in marrying our children in India," the delegation leader, Hari Singh, said.
Hindu families are also not getting suitable matches from that community in Pakistan. So they are marrying their children in Sikh families, he said.
Ram Singh of Peshawar said, "All Sikhs in Pakistan are keen to visit India's Punjab to find match for their children, but the Indian high commission in Islamabad does not allow us since it still comes in the list of disturbed areas."
Hundreds of Muslims in Pakistan have married their children in India and vice-versa. But Sikhs and Hindus are not allowed to visit India's Punjab, he said. "This time nearly 1,0000 Sikh pilgrims got the visa only after the intervention of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.