Pakistani diplomat, 178 devotees visit Sufi shrine in Indian capital amid tense ties
ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani diplomat on Wednesday paid tribute at the shrine of a 13th-century Muslim mystic in New Delhi, joining 178 devotees from his country who traveled to India to mark the saint's death anniversary, even as diplomatic ties between the two countries remain strained.
Amir Khusro, a revered Sufi and disciple of Nizamuddin Aulia, is celebrated for shaping Indo-Islamic culture through his poetry, music and promotion of the Persian and Hindavi languages.
Despite the downgrading of bilateral relations since August 2019, when India revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, religious tourism between the two countries has persisted.
'The Charge d' Affaires of Pakistan to India, Mr. Saad Ahmad Warraich, laid the traditional chaddar [a decorative cloth] on behalf of the Government and people of Pakistan at the shrine of the famous mystic saint, Hazrat Amir Khusro (RA), in New Delhi, today,' the Pakistani High Commission said in a statement.
'A group of 178 Pakistani Zaireen [devotees] visiting India to participate in the 721 Urs celebrations of Hazrat Amir Khusro (RA) were also present on the occasion,' it added.
The Urs is an annual commemoration of a Sufi saint's death anniversary, observed as a spiritual reunion with the divine.
According to the statement, the Pakistani diplomat and religious devotees were warmly received at the shrine by its caretaker.
The visit was organized under the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, which facilitates reciprocal religious tourism between the two countries.
The development comes as Pakistan recently issued nearly 6,000 visas to Indian Sikhs to visit Pakistan for the Baisakhi festival, one of Sikhism's holiest celebrations, marking the spring harvest and the founding of the Khalsa in 1699.
Thousands of pilgrims gathered at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the Pakistani city of Hasan Abdal, believed to bear the handprint of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith.
Many Indian pilgrims remain in Pakistan, visiting other sacred sites including Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, and Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
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