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ISLAMABAD: The Indian government has refused a request by Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for landing at Jaipur International Airport aimed at facilitating Hindu pilgrims.
According to reports, PIA has sought permission from the Indian Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) to allow a special flight from Karachi to Jaipur carrying Hindu pilgrims on January 29.
The special PIA flight was arranged on the request of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) for visit to religious sites. The flight was expected to carry 160 pilgrims from Karachi to Lahore on Saturday morning and then onwards to Jaipur.
The flight had to land at Jaipur airport at 12:00 noon on Saturday, however, PIA was reportedly not given permission to operate the flight. Last month, the Indian government also denied permission to a PIA flight to land at New Delhi airport.
Earlier this month, the Pakistan Hindu Council has forwarded a proposal to the Indian government to allow Hindu and Sikh pilgrims to travel by air to India for reglious tourism. He had also urged India to issue visas to a delegation of pilgrims to visit the country as part of his faith tourism initiative between the two neighbouring countries.
He said that a group of 170 pilgrims who were ready to go to India by a special flight of the PIA were waiting for New Delhi’s approval. He also said the pilgrims would visit Ajmer Sharif, Jaipur, Agra, New Delhi and Haridwar and then fly back on February 1 by using the PIA flight. He said that a delegation of 170 devotees from India would travel to Pakistan on February 20, followed by another delegation from India on March 1.
The proposal was sent to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi on behalf of the PHC chief patron Ramesh Vankwani, asking that two chartered flights PIA carrying pilgrims be allowed to fly from Lahore and Karachi to religious destinations in India.
Officials pointed out that Pakistan denied overflight permission to Srinagar-Sharjah Qflights that began in November last year, and India refused to allow PIA flights to take Indian pilgrims to Pakistan in December. It was expected to be the first PIA flight to travel to India since operations were suspended in 2019.
