Nankana Sahib, November 18
Indian Sikh pilgrims who reached here to pay obeisance at gurdwaras were left high and dry when the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) refused to exchange the Indian currency on the third consecutive day today, without assigning any reason.

The officials of the NBP said they had not got any instructions from their head office to convert the Indian currency. However, dollars or pounds were readily accepted by the bank. As a result, the Sikh pilgrims had to get their currency exchanged with the Pakistani currency from local money exchangers. Though the value of the Indian currency is 20 per cent more than the Pakistani currency yet money exchangers treat both the currencies on a par, thereby causing losses to the pilgrims.

The traders of Nankana Sahib are sore over the fact that only a token jatha of 52 Indian pilgrims had reached here as compared to a jatha of more than 3,000 in the previous years. This has adversely affected their businesses.

Meanwhile, jathas from England, Canada, Thailand, Switzerland and Afghanistan have reached here to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev tomorrow.