Both clerics safe in Pakistan, will reach Delhi: Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi: Two Indian clerics who went missing in Pakistan are safe and will be back in the city on Monday, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Sunday.

The two clerics — Syed Asif Nizami, the head priest (Sajjadanashin) of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah in New Delhi and his nephew Nazim Ali Nizami — had gone to Lahore on March 8 and were to return to India on March 20.

“I just spoke to Syed Nazim Ali Nizami in Karachi. He told me that they are safe and will be back in Delhi tomorrow,” Ms Swaraj tweeted.

The main purpose of the visit of 80-year-old Asif to Pakistan was to see his sister in Karachi, according to news agency reports.

Pakistan had conveyed to India on Saturday that the clerics were traced and had reached Karachi.

Ms Swaraj had taken up the issue with Pakistani Prime Minister’s adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz on Saturday and had requested him to trace the missing clerics.

According to Pakistani media reports, the clerics had been in “interior Sindh where there was no communication network” and that is why they could not inform their relatives about their whereabouts. Earlier, Pakistani sources were quoted by news agencies as saying that the duo were in the custody of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI over their alleged links with the MQM. They were offloaded from Karachi-bound Shaheen Airlines on March 14 at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, the Pakistani sources had said.