Indo-Pakistan border, Aug. 27 : Located on the "zero line" of the India-Pakistan border, Baba Sheikh Bhram Dargah has today become a place of brotherhood and religious harmony for people of India as well as Pakistan.

People visiting this shrine to forget their caste, creed and religious denominations. For, people value this place in an unusual unity of faith and beyond geographical boundaries.

Thousands of devotees from both sides of the Indo-Pak border converge in large numbers to pay obeisance at the mausoleum of Baba Sheikh Bhram on every Thursday. The numbers, however, increase manifold during the bi-annual fair.

For centuries, Mianwali Village near the Indo-Pak border has been a centre of faith and devotion because of Baba Sheikh Bhram’s mausoleum.

Baba Sheikh Bhram was 11th in succession to Baba Farid, whose teachings are included in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the holy textbook of Sikh community. The Sufi mystic was a contemporary of Guru Nanak Dev, the Sikh Guru.

It is said that that on his way to Mecca, Guru Nanak visited Sheikh Bhram at Pak Pattan and hence the place gained a major significance.

People from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan come here.

This time a lot of foreigners arrived to pay their obeisance at the Baba’s mausoleum.

“God fulfills wishes of everyone who pray at the fair. If one has faith in God, all that is desired is fulfilled,” said one of the tourists.

Devotees from different faiths- Muslim, Hindu, Sikh all feel deeply attached to the shrine.

Though devotees from Pakistan have been denied to come here since the 1971 Indo-Pak war, they offer their prayers from the other side of the fence. These devotees have appealed to the governments of both countries to allow them free access to the shrine.

Many villagers say it is unfortunate that Pakistanis had been stopped from visiting the "Dargah".

“Visitors from Pakistan can only pay tributes from a distance. Ever since 1999, there have been restrictions on them to cross the border. They can only pray and make wishes from a distance. They are given `Prasad'' after which return,” said one of the villagers at the Dargah.

Though the fairs hold immense religious significance, it is also marked by some enthusiastic celebration. Devotees enjoyed dancing on the beats of drums and relished local delicacies like Jalebi and Pakoras.

Local artists performed and entertained the large crowd.

Many devotees wished that this annual fair never came to end so that this occasion proves the harbinger of brotherhood and affection on both sides of the divide. (ANI)