ISLAMABAD – India has refused to grant visas to Pakistani pilgrimsintending to attend the Urs of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti atDargah Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan.
Reports said that 400 Pakistanis were to leave for India to attend theevent, adding that all the devotees had gathered at Haji Camp in Lahore.
New Delhi has refused permission to Pakistani pilgrims, citing the Covid-19pandemic, despite the fact that Islamabad allowed hundreds of Sikh andHindu pilgrims to visit Pakistan in the running year and 2021.
The development comes days after Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) hadto postpone its scheduled flights to take Pakistani Hindu pilgrims to Indiadue to not receiving a green signal for the flight.
Read Top Stories
A statement issued by the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) on January 29 statedthat on it’s request seeking passage for three flights — from Karachi toJaipur on January 29, from Jaipur to Agra on the same day, and from Delhito Karachi on Feb 1, — PIA had approached the civil aviation department ofIndia for permission and necessary arrangements, but received no responsefrom the other side by Thursday.
Hence, furthering this process is now impossible, it added. The PHC,however, made it clear that neither itself or PIA is responsible forcalling off the trip. Instead, “the client [Indian authorities] laggedbehind” in making the trip possible for Pakistani Hindu pilgrims, it added.It said that the trip is being postponed till the Pakistani authoritiesreceive India’s permission to airlift the pilgrims.
