Pak PM Imran Khan urged to reopen border

Congratulating PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khan for showing "admirable magnanimity" in theopening of the Kartarpur Corridor for Sikh pilgrims, a US-based advocacy grouphas urged him to now reopen the Khokhrapar-Munabao border with India formillions of Hindu and Muslim devotees.

The opening of the Khokhrapar border would facilitate millions of followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishti to visit Dargah Ajmer Sharif in Rajasthan. It will also allow Hindu pilgrims to visit the Hinglaj Mandir in the Balochistan province of Pakistan.

The group represents Mohajirs, Urdu-speaking Indian Muslims who settled in Pakistan after the Partition. It says on its website it is "committed to raising global awareness about the plight of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi".

"Now that your government has shownadmirable magnanimity by opening the Kartarpur crossing making it convenientfor Sikh pilgrims to visit their sacred places in Pakistan, I would request youon behalf of millions of Muslim and Hindu followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishtiand Hinglaj Devi respectively to show similar generosity by openingKhokhrapar-Munabao border with immediate effect," the group's NadeemNusrat said in a letter to the Pakistan prime minister.

"Your favourable response will not onlywin you millions of hearts, but it will also help ease tensions in the regionby improving people-to-people contact. The failure to do so, on the other hand,would justifiably reinforce rumours and speculations about the real intentionsbehind the opening of Kartarpur crossing," Nusrat said.

He said millions of Muslims and Hindus livingin Pakistan and India have been facing difficulties in visiting the two placesof worship since 1947. Fortunately, both issues could quickly be resolved withthe same level of kindness you have demonstrated in the Kartarpur crossingissue."

Millions of Muslims from India who had settledin urban areas of Sindh Province of Pakistan, still deeply revere HazratMoinuddin Chishti, and want to visit his shrine in India, Nusrat said.

This should not be an issue because Pakistan'sSindh Province shares its border with India's Rajasthan state, and the journeyfrom Sindh's Khokhrapar border crossing to Ajmer Shrine is just a few hourslong.

"However, this border crossing is closedfor years, which forces the visitors to undertake an almost four-time longerjourney to Ajmer Shrine via Punjab and Delhi. This unnecessary longer journeyalso places a substantial financial burden on visitors whose overwhelmingmajority comes poor and middle-class people," the group said in theletter.

"If you look at it from a humanperspective, it is a blatant case of the violation of millions of peoples'fundamental religious rights," he said.

"Hinglaj Mandir is a sacred Hindu temple on the Makran coast in Balochistan province. A large number of Hindu worshippers every year undertake a four-day pilgrimage to the Hinglaj Mandir. The deity is also worshipped and visited by many Hindus in India who want to visit this temple but face the same challenges as do the followers of Saint Moinuddin Chishti," Nusrat said.