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.
Asif Nizami’s eldest son Sazid Ali Nizami was quoted saying that;
“My father Syed Asif Ali Nizami, 80, and his nephew Nazim Nizami 60, went missing from Lahore and Karachi airports, respectively, on Wednesday evening,”
Sazid Nizami added that his father and cousin went to Karachi on March 6 and from there, they went to Lahore to offer a ‘chadar’ at Baba Farid’s shrine, the master of Baba Nizamuddin.
“On March 14, they offered another ‘chadar’ at Data Darbar Sufi shrine in Lahore. The next day, they reached Lahore airport to take a flight to Karachi at 4.30 pm. At the Lahore airport, my cousin was stopped by authorities to clear some documentation and my father was asked to board the flight,” said Sazid. He also stated that their mobile phones were switched off.
The matter has been taken up with the Pakistan government both in New Delhi as well as through the Indian mission in Islamabad, says report.
Sazid Nizami told media that Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and other officials had taken stock of the situation and assured him of appropriate action. Exchanges between clerics of the Nizamuddin Dargah and the Daata Darbar are part of a regular tradition. The duo had gone to Karachi to meet their relatives on March 8 before travelling to Lahore to visit the shrine.
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