The Indian Embassy has declined to issue visas to Pakistani pilgrims for attending the annual Urs of Hazrat Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti Gharib Nawaz beginning from tomorrow in Ajmer Sharif.

In a statement, Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Minister Pir Noor ul Haq Qadri, expressed dismay over the non-issuance of visas to the religious tourists.

He said, the Indian Embassy had asked the ministry to complete all the arrangements for the departure of pilgrims for Urs following all the standard operating procedures issued by it.

The pilgrims belonging to far flung areas of the country had arrived in Lahore.

He said the last moment refusal for issuance of visas had hurt the sentiments of pilgrims, leaving them in mental stress.

Qadri said Pakistan would take up such an ill-treatment of Zaireen with India at the foreign ministry’s level.

He said India has violated the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines on the pretext of 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.

He said despite the prevailing COVID-19, Government of Pakistan issued visas to both Hindu and Sikh Yatris during the last two years.