Eastern Eye (UK)

Train and van collision leaves 19 Sikh pilgrims dead

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AT LEAST 19 pilgrims of Pakistan’s minority Sikh community were killed when a train collided with a passenger van in eastern Pakistan last Friday (3), officials said.

According to police, the dead, which include two children, were all residents of Peshawar, home to most of Pakistan’s nearly 40,000 Sikhs.

The accident occurred at an unmanned railway crossing close to the city of Sheikhupur­a in Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, Pakistan Railways public relations official Quratulain said.

The 19 killed were all passengers seated in the van, travelling from the town of Nankana Sahib to Farooqabad – both sites revered by followers of Sikhism.

Sikhs revere Nankana Sahib, located near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, which borders India,

as the place their religion began and where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak, was born in 1469.

Pakistan’s prime minister Imran Khan expressed dismay at the accident in a message on Twitter.

Khan has overseen the constructi­on of a special border crossing, called the Kartarpur corridor, allowing Sikhs from India to visit holy sites in Pakistan, despite continued hostile relations between the two countries.

Khan also said Pakistan’s railway safety would be reviewed. Pakistan’s railways have witnessed a number of accidents over the last few years, including frequent collisions between vehicles and trains. “Investigat­ions are underway to figure out negligence behind it,” a district police officer Ghazi Salahuddin said.

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