The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has firmly rejected as baseless the Indian media reports claiming that Hindu pilgrims were denied entry into Pakistan.
According to details surfaced on Thursday, the Ministry said that the allegations made in the Indian press are unfounded, misleading, and a deliberate distortion of facts. Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that more than 2,400 Sikh pilgrims had been granted visas to attend the celebrations marking the birth anniversary of Baba Guru Nanak.
He maintained that on November 4, 1,932 pilgrims entered Pakistan through the Wagah–Attari border crossing, while nearly 300 visa-holding visitors were prevented by Indian authorities from crossing the border.
Pakistan, he added, completed all immigration procedures in a transparent, orderly, and uninterrupted manner.
The spokesperson said that a few individuals had incomplete travel documents and failed to provide satisfactory answers to officials’ queries. They were instructed, in accordance with routine procedure, to return to the Indian side. To suggest that anyone was stopped on religious grounds, he said, is entirely false and malicious.
A clear and straightforward system exists for visits to sacred religious sites, he added. The Indian government and media, he said, have displayed a biased attitude over a minor administrative matter.
