Karachi, March 19 (PTI): Two Indian Islamic clerics of Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia’s Dargah who went missing in the country have been ‘traced’ and will return to India soon.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office has confirmed they have been traced and reached Karachi.
Syed Asif Ali Nizami, 80, and his nephew Nazim Ali Nizami, were visiting Data Darbar in Lahore when they went missing on Wednesday.
However, reports of their recovery emerged after Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz.
“I spoke to Mr Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs, regarding the missing Indian nationals Syed Asif Ali Nizami and Nazim Ali Nizami of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah. He assured me of all help in tracing the missing clerics,” Swaraj tweeted.
Separately, local media reports, citing unnamed sources, said both the clerics were recovered from Karachi’s Nazimabad neighbourhood, apparently the religious figures had been to “[rural] Sindh to meet their followers, where there was no communication network”, which is why they could not inform their relatives about their whereabouts.
However, when contacted, police officials in Karachi, including DIG West and Central Zulfiqar Larik, and DSP Nazimabad, denied the reports.
Meanwhile, an official told The Express Tribune of Karachi that the two clerics were considered ‘suspicious’ because they used to visit their relatives in the Sanda area of Lahore every few months.
(The featured picture is that of Sayed Asif Ali Nizami and Nazim Ali Nizami)
