Two Indian clerics traced in Pakistan

Two Indian clerics who went missing in Pakistan have been found, Sindh Police officials told the local media on Saturday.

The two clerics of Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah were reportedly found in a remote village of Sindh province with no mobile connectivity.

Both were sent to Karachi, from where they will be deported to India on March 20.

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 Pakistan Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz.

"I spoke to 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.

--IANS

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