‘Thank you’, missing Sufi cleric’s son tells Sushma, Indian govt

New Delhi: Expressing happiness over the news of return of the two Indian Sufi clerics of Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah who went missing in Pakistan, Amir Nizami, son of one of the clerics thanked the Indian Government and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for their efforts in tracing the two.

“We got to know the news circulating in Pakistan media. We also got a call from the Indian government. We would like to thank the Indian government and Sushma Swaraj for their efforts. We would also thank Pakistan media,” Nizami told ANI.

Nizami also said that the clerics’ mobile phones were now active, adding that they would be able to talk to them very soon.

The two clerics are set to return to India on March 20, according to Pakistan media reports.

According to Pakistan media reports, two Indian clerics surfaced in Karachi and told that they had gone to meet their devotees in interior Sindh, where there was no phone connectivity.

The clerics identified as Asif Nizami and his friend Nazim Nizami, belong to Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.

The duo had travelled to Pakistan to visit their relatives in Karachi and then embarked on a pilgrimage to Lahore.

One of them went missing in Karachi and the other in Lahore, reports claimed.

The Indian authorities had raised the issue with the Pakistan Foreign Ministry seeking its help in tracing their missing citizens.

Syed Asif Ali Nizami is the head priest of New Delhi’s Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah.

Meanwhile, a Dargah Committee meeting is underway in Delhi’s Nizamuddin regarding the disappearances.

Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that she has taken up the matter to Islamabad officials.

Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria also acknowledged that an Indian request seeking assistance for the recovery of two clerics had been received.

PTI