New Delhi: Even as bilateral bond with Pakistan remains in deep freezing, India wants to build good intentions created by religious tourism by expanding the list of sorrin agreed on both parties who are allowed to visit.
India proposed the same to Pakistan in the word verbale said Friday that pilgrims were also allowed to travel with air.
The government said that Friday had a positive approach to this problem and was willing to involve Islamabad.
India believes that the initial implementation of the proposal will help Sikh and Hindu who want to visit pilgrimage centers in Pakistan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed Friday India will begin supplying wheat to Afghanistan through Pakistan immediately.
“As you know, under the 1974 protocol between India and Pakistan, a visit to the religious temple is facilitated regularly.
There are interest in both parties to expand the agreed upon temperature list and travel mode.
Naturally need to be discussed below.
Protocol,” said MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi.
“Let me underline that India has a positive approach to this problem and is willing to involve Pakistan,” he added.
The official also said that, when the normalized pandemic situation, India hoped this time would be used for discussions based on bilateral protocols.
“It is our hope of facilitating the initial exchanges of visits to all the temples that are interesting for pilgrims,” he said.
Both countries have been looking to facilitate visits by pilgrims since the Kartarpur corridor reopened last year.
Pakistan last month issued a visa to 112 Indian pilgrims who allowed them to visit Hindu temples in Pakistan Punjab.
Tourism of Religion and Humanitarian Problems have made diplomats on both parties occupied even with the absence of substantive bilateral involvement between 2 countries.
Visits by pilgrims under the 1974 protocol continued despite occasional disorders as in 2018 when India denied the visa to Pakistani pilgrims after the Jadhav Kulbhushan case dispute.
The mechanism for facilitating religious tourism is among the 5 agreements that PM Narendra Modi has reached 2015 with his colleague then Nawaz Sharif in a bilateral meeting in Russia.
India currently also works with Pakistan to supply wheat to Afghanistan through the Tanah Attari-Wagah route.
The government said Friday hoped to start immediate delivery and it remained committed to providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.
“The process for the procurement of wheat and to regulate transportation is currently underway.
Naturally, this requires time.
We will share updates as soon as we have it.
We hope to do it soon,” Bagchi said.
Let’s open more temples for pilgrims, India proposes to Pakistan
