India denied visa to Pakistani devotees wanting to travel to Ajmer Sharif: Minister

Qadri said said the Ministry has sent intimation to all the devotees via SMS after it received information of cancellation from the Indian embassy.

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Islamabad: Amid tensions between India and Pakistan after the latter’s repetitive attempts of disrupting peace in our country, India has refused to grant visas to around 500 Pakistani devotees intending to travel to Ajmer Sharif, Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said on Monday. The minister said five hundred Pakistani devotees were to leave for the neighbouring country on Thursday India has denied visa to them, according to Radio Pakistan. Qadri said said the Ministry has sent intimation to all the devotees via SMS after it received information of cancellation from the Indian embassy. The Indian embassy is yet to return the passports of these devotees, he said. Qadri said Pakistan has granted visas to 5,600 Sikh pilgrims during a year, while visas were also granted to 312 Hindu devotees, reported Radio Pakistan. This comes days after Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 40 Indian soldiers and tainted the relations between the two countries further. The attack was followed by retaliation by India, which conducted air strikes in Pakistan’s Balakot, attacking terror camps and “killing 250 terrorists” as claimed by BJP Chief Amit Shah.

Indian jets shoot down Pak UAV in Rajasthan

In spite of diplomatic isolation from India, Pakistan is not ready to relent as on Monday the Indian fighter jets intercepted and downed an unmanned aerial vehicle that violated the Indian air space on the International Border in Rajasthan, Sources said on Monday.  The UAV entered the Indian Territory at around 11:30 am  prompting Indian fighter jets to scramble and fire air to air missile at it. Subsequently, the parts of the missile debris fell into Fort Abbas near Bahawalpur where Masood Azhar has built a sprawling headquarter of his terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed.