Amritsar, Nov.29 (ANI): Pakistan Evacuee Trust Property Board (PETPB) chairman Syed Asif Hashmi has said that it is high time that both India and Pakistan jointly review the pact inked between former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Liaqat Ali Khan.
Hashmi was here with a six member team to visit the Golden Temple before heading back to Lahore.
He was honoured by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (SGPC) officials at the information center of the Golden Temple.
He informed that the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi had already increased the number of pilgrimages visas and was granting the visas for eight occasions in a year.
He said: "I will talk to my government and the Pakistan Foreign Office and urged them to revise the pact to facilitate more and more pilgrimages between India and Pakistan.
The Nehru-Liaquat Pact was signed on April 8, 1950 to guarantee the rights of minorities in both countries after the Partition of India and avert another war between them.
Under this pact, India allows about 3000 Sikh pilgrims to visit Sikh shrines in Pakistan on four religious occasions.
While talking to media, he listed a number of development projects being undertaken by the PETPB on various religious shrines in Pakistan.
He accepted that there are hundreds of Sikh historical shrines in Pakistan, but visas were granted for few of them.
He also blamed the Indian government for delaying the completion of the corridor to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib.
He also said that not an inch of Sikh shrine land has been sold off or given to anyone. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)
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