LAHORE: Seventy-one Hindu pilgrims, including 17 women, arrived here on Tuesday on their way to participate in the 308th birth anniversary Sant Shada Ram in Sindh, and were all praise for Pakistan for its hospitality and arrangements.

Headed by Sant Yudhishter Lal, the visitors said getting visa for the journey was not a problem despite tension on borders.

“One of the participants got his visa on Monday (Nov 21) as the Pakistani High Commission was exceptionally cooperative,” Bansi Lal claimed.

“Both the governments should facilitate people-to-people contacts,” says Reluram Bharti.

Pakistanis have set an example by granting visas to all 84 Indian applicants. Of them, 13 could not make it to Pakistan due to personal reasons.It was homecoming after 71 years for Bansi Lal: “My father who had 2,000 acre land left his village close to Mirpur Methaleo during Partition. For 70 years, we had been dreaming of going back one day, at least on a visit to our ancestral place. No one can imagine the joy and spiritual satisfaction the visit has brought to me.”

Arranged by the Evacuee Trust property Board, the pilgrims would visit seven cities of Sindh. They would arrive back Lahore on Dec 2 and leave for India next day.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016