Pakistan on Monday issued 96 visas to a group of Indian pilgrims to visit the Katas Raj Temple during December 20-25, Pakistan high commission said on Monday.
Katas Raj Temple is situated in the Punjab province’s Chakwal district (File Photo)
Visas are issued to Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India in line with the Pakistan government’s efforts to facilitate visits to religious shrines, the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi said in a statement.
Each year, a sizeable number of Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India visit Pakistan to participate in various religious festivals and occasions. “A large number of Indian Hindus are also issued visas by the Pakistan high commission to visit their families and friends in Pakistan,” the statement said.
Charge d’affaires Aftab Hasan Khan, the senior-most diplomat at the Pakistani mission, wished the Indian pilgrims a “spiritually rewarding pilgrimage and underlined that Pakistan remains committed to preserving sacred religious sites and providing all possible assistance to the visiting pilgrims of all faiths.”
The visit of Indian pilgrims to the Katas Raj Temple is covered under the bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines of 1974.
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Katas Raj Temple is situated in the Punjab province’s Chakwal district.
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Katas Raj Temple is situated in the Punjab province’s Chakwal district.
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.
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