Pakistani Zaireen Conclude visit to Kaliyar Sharif; High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood participates in Chadadar-laying Ceremony The group of 91 Pakistani Zaireen (pilgrims) visiting India for the annual Urs of Hazrat Khawaja Allauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir (RA), a great Sufi saint of Chishti order, at Kaliyar Sharif (Uttrakhand), concluded their visit today. The Urs was held from 19-25 November 2018. During the visit, High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood travelled to Kalyar Sharif and, accompanied by Pakistani Zaireen, laid the traditional Chaddar at Rouza Sharif on behalf of the people and Government of Pakistan and offered special Dua. Later, he met with Sajjada Nasheen Shah Mansoor Aijaz Sabri and Ali Aijaz Sabri. During their interaction with the High Commissioner, the Zaireen expressed their gratitude to the Pakistan government and staff of the High Commission for facilitating their visit. For his part, High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood noted that at the time the group of 91 Zaireen was visiting from Pakistan, more than 3800 Sikh yatrees were participating in the 549th birthday celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak Dev Ji in Pakistan. The High Commissioner added that this was a particularly propitious moment as our Sikh brethren were on the cusp of having their long-standing desire fulfilled through the opening of the passage to Kartarpur Sahib. “This moment is similar in spirit to the message of love, amity and brotherhood that Baba Guru Nanak and the great Sufi saints of the Sub-continent espoused, through their life and teachings,” High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood said. The High Commissioner noted that Prime Minister Imran Khan was scheduled to inaugurate the ground-breaking ceremony of the facilities for the Kartarpur Corridor, on the Pakistan side, on 28 November 2018. The High Commissioner further highlighted the role of visits to religious shrines (under the 1974 Protocol) in the context of enhancing people-to-people exchanges between Pakistan and India.