ISLAMABAD: India on Wednesday declined to issue visas to Pakistani pilgrims at the eleventh hour for attending the annual Urs of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer from February 3 to 14.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter­faith Harmony Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, in a statement, expressed dismay over the non-issuance of visas to the religious tourists, which was beyond his comprehension.

The Indian embassy, he said, had asked the ministry to complete all the arrangements for the departure of pilgrims for the Urs following all the standard operating procedures issued by it. The pilgrims belonging to far-flung areas of the country had arrived in Lahore. However, the last moment refusal for issuance of visas had hurt their sentiments leaving them in mental stress, he added.

Mr Qadri said Pakistan would take up such an ill-treatment of Zaireen with India at the foreign ministry’s level. India had violated the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines on the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic.

On the contrary, he said, Pakistan had always facilitated Hindu and Sikh Yatris from India to visit their sacred sites in a bid to promote interfaith harmony.

Amid the prevailing Covid-19, Pakistan issued visas to both Hindu and Sikh pilgrims during the last two years.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2022