LAHORE: A Sikh pilgrim who had arrived in Pakistan from India to attend the annual Baisakhi festival but went missing later has been traced and will be sent back home on Tuesday (today) via the Wagah border.

Amarjeet Singh, 23, had arrived from India on April 12 and was scheduled to return with a group of over 1,700 pilgrims on April 21— the last day of his visa duration.

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“But a couple of days before his visa expired, probably April 18, he left the group in Nankana Sahib and went missing. Since the issue was so sensitive, the law enforcement agencies made extensive efforts to get any clue in this regard,” said an official source in the evacuee trust property board (ETPB). His mother was also worried as her son did not return on April 21 with the others.

Amarjeet, he added, was later found in Sheikhupura where he had been residing at the residence of his friend. “Now he is in the custody of a law enforcement agency. And in a day or two, he will be sent back to India,” he said.

When contacted, ETPB secretary Tariq Wazir said that Amarjeet would be sent back to India on Tuesday. “Actually he had left the group and gone to meet his friend in Sheikhupura, near Nankana. But after a couple of days, family of Amarjeet’s friend contacted us on its own, confirming his stay at their home,” the ETPB secretary told Dawn on Monday.

“They will hand over Amarjeet to us on Tuesday after which we will send him back to India,” he added.

Earlier, the ETPB administration had informed the ministries of interior and foreign affairs and other departments concerned about Amarjeet gone missing. The foreign office had confirmed the report as well.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2018