Two Indian clerics, including the head priest of New Delhi’s Nizamuddin Dargah, have gone missing in Pakistan, prompting India to take up the matter with the Pakistani government.
Last pictures of the two clerics from Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, Asif Nizami and Nazim Nizami who have gone missing in Pakistan pic.twitter.com/1tdxsbgtJY
— ANI (@ANI_news) March 16, 2017
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that the matter has been taken up with the authorities in Pakistan, asking them for an update on the missing sufis clerics.
Indian nationals Syed Asif li Nizami aged 80 years and his nephew Nazim Ali Nizami had gone to Pakistan on 8 March 2017. /1
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 17, 2017
Syed Asif Ali Nizami is Head Priest (Sajjadanashin) of Hazrat Nizammuddin Aulia dargah. /2
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 17, 2017
Both are missing after they landed at Karachi airport. /3
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 17, 2017
We have taken up this matter with Government of Pakistan and requested them for an update on both the Indian nationals in Pakistan./4
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 17, 2017
According to official sources in New Delhi, Asif Nizami, the chief priest, and Nazim Nizami had gone to visit the famous Daata Darbar shrine in Lahore and were to catch a flight from there to Karachi on Wednesday.
“As per their families, while Asif was allowed to go to Karachi, Nazim was stopped at the Lahore airport on grounds of incomplete travel papers. While Nazim went missing from Lahore airport, Asif went missing after arriving at the Karachi airport,” he said.
The matter has been taken up with the Pakistan government both in New Delhi as well as through the Indian mission in Islamabad, the source said.
The duo had gone to Karachi to meet their relatives on March 8 before travelling to Lahore to visit the shrine. Exchanges between clerics of the Nizamuddin Dargah and the Daata Darbar are part of a regular tradition.
(Feature image source: ANI/ Twitter)
