Pakistan has issued 84 visas to Indian pilgrims to visit the Katasraj Temple

Katasaraja temple pond. | Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Pakistan High Commission on Wednesday (December 18, 2024) said it had issued 84 visas to Indian pilgrims to visit the Shree Katas Raj Temple in Chakwal district of Punjab province.

The group has been granted visas to visit the Katasaraja Temple from December 19 to 25.

Temples are also known as Qila Katas. It is a complex of several Hindu temples connected to each other by walkways.

Every year Sikh and Hindu pilgrims visit Pakistan from India, under the provisions of the Bilateral Protocol on Religious Pilgrimage. Pakistani pilgrims also visit India every year under the protocol.

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“The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has issued 84 visas to a group of Indian pilgrims to visit the holy Shree Katas Raj temples in Chakwal district of Punjab,” the Pakistani mission said.

Pakistan Ambassador Saad Ahmad Waraich wished the pilgrims a “spiritually rewarding” and “fulfilling” journey.

“Under the Pakistan-India Protocol on Visiting Religious Pilgrimages of 1974, every year thousands of Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India come to Pakistan to participate in various religious festivals/occasions,” the Pakistan High Commission said.

“The issuance of pilgrim visas is in line with the policy of the Government of Pakistan to visit religious places of pilgrimage and promote interfaith harmony,” it said in a statement.