ISLAMABAD: Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has issued 2200 visas to Indian Sikh Pilgrims for the upcoming Baisakhi Festival.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Mohammad Faisal said visas were issued in line with Pakistan’s efforts to promote interfaith harmony and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.
#Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, issued 2200 visas to Indian Sikh Pilgrims today, for the upcoming #Baisakhi festival, in line with our efforts to promote inter-faith harmony & people-to-people contacts
— Dr Mohammad Faisal (@ForeignOfficePk) April 9, 2019
Baisakhi is a historical religious festival in Sikhism, which is celebrated in mid of April. This event marks the Punjabi and Sikh new year. It is a spring harvest festival for the Sikhs.
On March 5, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri had said that India had refused to issue visas to Pakistanis for attending the Urs of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti ─ also known as ‘Gharib Nawaz’─ at Dargah Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan.
According to the minister, 500 Pakistanis were to leave for India on March 7.
Read More: India refuses visas to Pakistanis for Urs of Khawaja Moinuddin in Ajmer Sharif
“India’s extremist face has been revealed again,” Qadri had said adding, “India is held hostage by religious extremists.”
It has been two years that Pakistanis had been deprived attendance to the Urs, the minister had resented.
Qadri had said, the Indian embassy, in a phone call, had informed of the cancellation of the visa applications for the visitors, after which the ministry had informed the citizens via SMS.
