Pakistan says it would consider visa for Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann

Pakistan says it would consider issuing a visa to Indian Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann if he wishes to visit the country, potentially allowing him to attend a Punjabi cultural conference in Lahore later this month. Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan made the statement during his weekly media briefing on Friday, in response to questions about a possible visit by Mann. Khan said Pakistan would consider issuing the visa, while stressing that whether the Indian government permitted the Aam Aadmi Party leader to travel was a separate issue.

Mann said on October 23 that he had been invited to the World Punjabi Conference in Lahore on November 27. He had expressed uncertainty about whether he would be allowed to attend, while pointing to shared culture and the participation of poets from India. The statement from Islamabad is therefore not a confirmed travel arrangement.

It indicates a willingness to consider a visa, but the reports do not say that Mann has formally applied, received approval from India or confirmed that he will attend. Mann has also expressed a wish for all members of Punjab’s legislative assembly to visit Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan if the Kartarpur Corridor is reopened. The corridor connects Dera Baba Nanak in India’s Punjab with Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur, a shrine associated with Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.

The visa-free corridor has remained closed to pilgrim movement from the Indian side since May 7, 2025. The reports link its closure to India’s strikes on nine targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Pahalgam terror attack. India Today refers to the operation as Operation Sindoor; The Hindu does not use that name.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office said it remained ready to facilitate pilgrims if restrictions were lifted and welcomed visitors of all faiths to religious sites. Khan said Pakistan issued more than 9,000 visas to Indian religious pilgrims in 2025, including Sikh and Hindu pilgrims, and more than 4,000 additional visas to Sikh pilgrims in the first half of this year. He also said Pakistan expected a large number of Sikh pilgrims at Nankana Sahib later this month for the 557th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

Khan described the Kartarpur initiative as enabling more than 5,000 pilgrims a day to visit the shrine and return the same day, subject to the relevant arrangements. The spokesperson referred to the 1974 Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines between India and Pakistan as the framework for religious travel. He also said Pakistan was protecting Buddhist heritage sites, including those at Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, through a dedicated task force.

The immediate development is Islamabad’s stated willingness to consider Mann’s visa. Whether the visit occurs depends on his own decision, Pakistan’s visa process and permission from the Indian government, none of which has been resolved in the supplied reports.