Pakistan to consider visa for Indian Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann

Pakistan's Foreign Office said it would examine a visa request from Indian Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann if he applies to attend an international Punjabi conference in Lahore, according to Indian media reports cited by Aaj News.

Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan told the ministry's weekly media briefing on Friday that the government would consider an application from Mann. He said the visa was one question and that allowing the chief minister to leave India was a decision for the Indian government.

Express News reported that Mann had requested security clearance for the visit. Ahmad Raza Punjabi, chief organiser of the fourth International Punjabi Conference, said Mann would travel with a large delegation if clearance came through.

Mann said on 23 October that he had received an invitation to the conference, which Aaj News reported is scheduled for 27 November in Lahore, and that he was unsure whether New Delhi would let him go. He said the culture on both sides was the same and that poets from India would also travel to Pakistan for the event.

He also said that if the Kartarpur Corridor reopened, he would take all members of the Punjab Assembly with him to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.

The corridor links Dera Baba Nanak in Indian Punjab to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Narowal district. Aaj News reported that India has kept it closed to visitors since 7 May 2025, a decision taken after the Pahalgam attack and India's Operation Sindoor against nine sites it described as terrorist hideouts in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. Khan said more than 5,000 people a day could once cross without a visa and return the same day.

Khan said Pakistan was ready to facilitate pilgrims once restrictions were lifted. He said Pakistan issued more than 9,000 visas to Indian Sikh and Hindu pilgrims in 2025 and more than 4,000 to Sikh pilgrims in the first six months of this year, and that it expected a large number of Sikhs at Nankana Sahib this month for the 557th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. He cited the 1974 protocol between the two countries on visits to religious sites and said a task force had been set up to protect Buddhist heritage at Taxila and Takht Bhai.

Ahmad Raza Punjabi said Pakistan's opening of the Kartarpur Corridor was a positive step and that the Indian government should also move to open the Wagah and Attari crossings, which he said would strengthen cultural ties between Punjabis on both sides. Express News reported that he met volunteers and the organising team, including students from colleges and universities, as preparations for the conference continued.