Sikh pilgrims have expressed strong reaction after being barred from travelling to Pakistan, according to Indian media reports.

The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has stopped the pilgrims from making the journey, citing prevailing tensions and security concerns between the two countries.
An advisory issued by the ministry formally prevented the travel, Indian media said.

Opposition parties and Sikh religious leaders in Indian Punjab condemned the decision. They remarked that if cricket matches could be held with Pakistan, then there was no justification for stopping Sikh pilgrims from visiting.

Sikh pilgrims were scheduled to travel to Pakistan in November for the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the central government had no right to obstruct religious freedom, adding that if cricket matches could take place with Pakistan, it was unreasonable to stop the pilgrims.

Former Lok Sabha member Sukhbir Singh Badal urged Home Minister Amit Shah to reconsider the decision. He stressed that not granting access to Kartarpur would hurt religious sentiments and demanded the reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor.

Thousands of Sikh pilgrims come to Pakistan every year to commemorate Baisakhi and other religious holidays.

These visits are facilitated under the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974, aimed at fostering religious harmony and cross-border understanding.

Ahead of this year’s Baisakhi festivities, the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi issued more than 6,500 visas to Indian Sikh pilgrims, allowing them to visit revered shrines in Pakistan between April 10 and 19, including Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.

It may be noted that relations between Pakistan and India have plunged to their lowest point in years following the deadly gun attack on April 22 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), where 26 tourists, including one Nepali national, were shot dead in Pahalgam’s scenic Baisaran Valley.

India blamed Pakistan for the attack — allegations that Islamabad denies. Following that, India launched an attack on Pakistan, branded as “Operation Sindoor”, but met with a befitting response.

The Pakistani armed forces not only shot down Indian drones that came into Pakistani territory, destroyed their check posts on the border, but also shot down their fighter jets, including the French-made Rafale.

The conflict ended after United States President Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire between the arch-rival nations.

Seven architectural projects that shield communities from climate risk, preserve cultural heritage, and create affordable housing were honoured at the Aga Khan Award for Architecture prize-giving ceremony at the Kyrgyz National Philharmonic Hall.

His Highness the Aga Khan accompanied His Excellency Adylbek Kasymaliev, Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic, to preside over the ceremony.

The winning designs, which will share a prize of $1 million, demonstrate the power of architecture to address some of humanity’s most pressing challenges. Projects include flood-resistant bamboo homes that can be relocated when rivers shift; an incremental, community-led restoration of urban heritage; and a community centre that transforms abandoned oil company ruins into a lively public space.

Distinguished laureates joined national officials, architecture experts, the Award’s Steering Committee and Master Jury, and other dignitaries for the event, which marks the culmination of the Award’s 16th triennial cycle.

A series of events this week in Bishkek has brought together architects, designers, policymakers, and community leaders to celebrate the transformative potential of architecture and urban planning to improve the world.

Vision Pakistan was one of the winners, placing Pakistan at the forefront of global recognition for social transformative and climate-conscious design.

Vision Pakistan in Islamabad, by DB Studios, is a multistorey facility boasting joyful facades inspired by Pakistani and Arab craft, while housing a charity that aims to empower disadvantaged youth through vocational training.

The Jury noted that the building not only contains a new type of education, but is full of light, spatially interesting, and economically efficient.

Established by His late Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan IV in 1977, the Aga Khan Award is unique among architecture prizes.

It spotlights projects that not only demonstrate design excellence but also improve quality of life, and considers the contributions of municipalities, builders, clients, master artisans and engineers alongside architects.

Since its inception, the Award has recognised more than 130 projects worldwide, influencing the global discourse on architecture in the Muslim world and beyond.

His Highness the Aga Khan elaborated on the importance of this pursuit: “Today, with the climate more volatile than ever, architects have a great responsibility, and an opportunity, to use their creativity to design the buildings that will buffer that volatility and protect us all – and especially the most vulnerable – from climatic risk,” he said.

“This quality – flexibility in the face of the unexpected – was at the heart of the jury’s concerns in this cycle of the award.”

As well as environmental justice, the built environment is well placed to help solve issues of social justice,

His Highness explained in his address: “It is not an exaggeration to say that affordability of our housing, ease of access to green space, education, health and cultural heritage all hinge on the creativity of our architects and the wisdom of our civic planners.”

Buildings, he added, have the power to raise living standards, inspire reverence and solve problems for generations to come.

“Great architecture,” he went on to say, “has the power to answer directly to the most acute development challenges, and to create the inclusive, safe, dignified world that we want for everyone.” Earlier in the day, His Highness also attended a special stamp cancellation ceremony, in which the Kyrgyz postal service issued a specially designed postage stamp to commemorate this year’s Award ceremony in Bishkek.

It took more than a year, several thousand dollars, ingenuity, setbacks and a jet ski: this is how Muhammad Abu Dakha, a 31-year-old Palestinian, managed to escape from Gaza to reach Europe.

He documented his story through videos, photographs and audio files, which he shared with Reuters. Reuters also interviewed him and his travel companions upon their arrival in Italy, and his relatives in the Gaza Strip.

Fleeing the devastation caused by the nearly two-year-old Israel-led war, in which Gaza health authorities say nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, Abu Dakha crossed the Rafah border point into Egypt in April 2024, paying $5,000.

To China and back

He said he initially went to China, where he hoped to win asylum, but returned to Egypt, via Malaysia and Indonesia, after that failed. He showed Reuters email correspondence with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representation in China from August and September 2024.

Abu Dakha then went to Libya where, according to multiple reports by human rights groups and the UN, tens of thousands of migrants are routinely abused and exploited by traffickers and militias while trying to secure a spot on a boat to Europe.

According to data from Italy’s interior ministry, more than 47,000 boat migrants have arrived in the country in the year to date, mostly from Libya and Tunisia. But Abu Dakha made it across in highly unusual circumstances.

After 10 failed crossing attempts with smugglers, he said he purchased a used Yamaha jet ski for about $5,000 through a Libyan online marketplace and invested another $1,500 in equipment, including a GPS, a satellite phone and life jackets.

Accompanied by two other Palestinians, 27-year-old Diaa and 23-year-old Bassem, he said he drove the jet ski for about 12 hours, seeing off a chasing Tunisian patrol boat, all while towing a dinghy with extra supplies.

The trio used ChatGPT to calculate how much fuel they would need, but still ran out some 20 km (12 miles) shy of Lampedusa. They managed to call for help, prompting a rescue and their landing on Italy’s southernmost island on August 18.

They were picked up by a Romanian patrol boat taking part in a Frontex mission, a spokesperson for the European Union’s border agency said, describing the circumstances as “an unusual occurrence.”

“It was a very difficult journey, but we were adventurers. We had strong hope that we would arrive, and God gave us strength,” said Bassem, who did not share his surname.

“The way they came was pretty unique,” said Filippo Ungaro, spokesperson for UNHCR Italy, confirming that authorities recorded their arrival in Italy after a jet ski journey from the Libyan port of al-Khoms and a rescue off Lampedusa.

In a straight line, al-Khoms is about 350 km from Lampedusa.

Abu Dakha contacted Reuters while staying in Lampedusa’s migrant centre, after being told by a member of the staff there that his arrival via jet ski had been reported by local media.

From that point he shared material and documents, although Reuters was unable to confirm certain aspects of his account.

From Lampedusa to Germany

From Lampedusa, the odyssey continued. The three men were taken by ferry to mainland Sicily, then transferred to Genoa in northwestern Italy, but escaped from the bus transporting them before getting to their destination.

A spokesperson for the Italian interior ministry said it had no specific information about the trio’s movements.

After hiding in bushes for a few hours, Abu Dakha took a plane from Genoa to Brussels. He shared with Reuters a boarding card in his name for a low-cost flight from Genoa to Brussels Charleroi, dated August 23.

From Brussels, he said he travelled to Germany, first taking a train to Cologne, then to Osnabrueck in Lower Saxony, where a relative picked him up by car and took him to Bramsche, a nearby town.

He says he has applied for asylum, and is waiting for a court to examine his application, with no date set yet for a hearing. He has no job or income and is staying in a local centre for asylum seekers.

Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees declined to comment on his case, citing privacy reasons.

Abu Dakha’s family remains in a tent camp in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, their home destroyed.

“He had an internet shop, and his work, thank God, was comfortable financially and everything. He had built things up, and it all collapsed,” said his father, Abdrabuh Souliman Abu Dakha, speaking from Gaza.

Abu Dakha hopes to win the right to stay in Germany, and bring over his wife and two children, aged four and six. He said one of them suffers from a neurological condition requiring medical care.

“That’s why I risked my life on a jet ski,” he said. “Without my family, life has no meaning.”