NEW DELHI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- India Saturday indicated stepping up pressure on Pakistan to locate the two Indian clerics who have reportedly gone missing in the neighboring country, as media reported that the duo were detained by Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI).
"Indian High Commission in Pakistan has taken up the matter of missing Indians Syed Asif Ali Nizami and Nazim Ali Nizami. I am in constant touch with our High Commission. However, there is no official confirmation reg their whereabouts. We are pursuing this further with the Government of Pakistan," Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
However, local media reports said, quoting unnamed sources that the two missing Indian clerics are in the custody of ISI for their alleged links with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). They were offloaded from Karachi-bound Shaheen Airlines flight on March 14 at Lahore airport, reports said.
India Friday said it had taken up with Islamabad the matter of the two missing Indian clerics, Syed Asif Ali Nizami, the head priest of Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah, and his nephew Nazim Ali Nizami, who had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month.
"Indian nationals Syed Asif li Nizami aged 80 years and his nephew Nazim Ali Nizami had gone to Pakistan on March 8. Syed Asif Ali Nizami is Head Priest (Sajjadanashin) of Hazrat Nizammuddin Aulia dargah. Both are missing after they landed at Karachi airport. We have taken up this matter with Government of Pakistan," Swaraj had tweeted.
The head priest's son Sazid Ali Nizami has said his father and 60-year-old cousin had gone to Pakistan earlier this month on a pilgrimage to famous Daata Darbar shrine in Lahore and were to fly to Karachi from there. His family's last contact with his father was from the Lahore airport.
"On March 14, they offered another chadar at Daata Darbar sufi shrine in Lahore. The next day, they reached Lahore airport to take a flight to Karachi at 4.30 p.m. (local time). At the airport, my cousin was stopped by authorities to clear some documentation and my father was asked to board the flight. Their mobile phones have been switched off since," Sazid Ali Nizami told the media.
