Visits by nationals of India and Pakistan to mutually agreed list of religious shrines in each other’s country are facilitated under the ‘Bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines’ signed in September 1974. This includes visits to shrines of Hazrat Moinuddin Chishti (Ajmer), Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (Delhi), Hazrat Amir Khusro (Delhi), Hazrat Mujaddid Alf Sani (Sirhind Sharif) and Hazrat Khwaja Alauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir (Kalyar Sharif) in India and Shadani Darbar (Hyat Pitafi), Shri Katasraj Dham (Lahore), Gurudwaras of Shri Nankana Sahib (Rawalpindi), Shri Panja Sahib (Rawalpindi) and Shri Dera Sahib (Lahore) in Pakistan.

Under the Protocol it is the obligation of the concerned country to make every effort to ensure that the places of worship in the agreed list of shrines under the Protocol are properly maintained and their sanctity preserved. Government of India ensures that these Shrines in India are properly maintained and their sanctity preserved.

This information was given by Gen. (Dr.) V.K. Singh (Retd), the Minister of State for External Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

YSK/MI 

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