Pakistan says willing to issue visa to Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann for visit

Pakistan Foreign Office said it would consider a visa for Bhagwant Mann if he wishes to visit, adding whether India allows him to travel is a separate matter.

Pakistan on Friday said it would consider issuing a visa to Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann if the Indian politician wished to visit the country.

Mann has been invited to the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore on November 27. (X/@BhagwantMann)

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan made the remarks during his weekly media briefing in response to a question about the possible visit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.

The Pakistani government would "consider issuing him a visa if he wished to visit the country", Khan said, clarifying that whether the Indian government permits Mann to travel to Pakistan was an entirely separate matter.

On October 23, Mann had said that he had been invited to attend the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore on November 27.

However, he questioned whether he would be allowed to travel to Pakistan.

"Our culture is the same. Many poets from here will go there," he had said.

Mann had also expressed his desire that all legislators of the Punjab legislative assembly visit Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan if the Kartarpur Corridor reopened.

The corridor, which connects Dera Baba Nanak in India's Punjab with the historic Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, Pakistan, was established to facilitate Sikh pilgrims travelling to the shrine associated with Guru Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism.

It allows Indian pilgrims to visit the gurdwara without requiring a visa for Pakistan, subject to the applicable arrangements.

The corridor has remained closed to pilgrim movement from the Indian side since May 7, 2025, when India launched pre-dawn missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack.

Pakistan said it remained ready to facilitate pilgrims once the restrictions were lifted.

The foreign office spokesperson said Pakistan welcomes pilgrims of all faiths and remains committed to facilitating visits to religious sites.

He said the country issued more than 9,000 visas to Indian religious pilgrims in 2025, including Sikh and Hindu pilgrims, and issued over 4,000 additional visas to Sikh pilgrims during the first half of this year.

"Pakistan looks forward to welcoming a large number of Sikh pilgrims at Nankana Sahib later this month to mark the 557th birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji," Khan said.

The spokesperson said Pakistan established the Kartarpur Corridor as a special initiative to facilitate Sikh pilgrims, enabling more than 5,000 pilgrims to visit the shrine daily and return on the same day.

Khan said the 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines between Pakistan and India provided a framework for facilitating religious pilgrimages between the two countries.

He also said Pakistan was taking steps to preserve and protect Buddhist heritage sites, including those in Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, and had established a special task force for the purpose.