ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has invited applications from Pakistani pilgrims wishing to attend the annual Urs of Hazrat Amir Khusro (RA) in New Delhi next year.
According to a ministry spokesperson, applicants can submit their forms through the ministry’s website or at its office by September 25. If the number of applicants is higher than the available seats, a draw will be held on October 23 to select the pilgrims.
The Urs is scheduled to be held from March 22 to 29 next year at the shrine of Hazrat Amir Khusro in New Delhi. However, the dates are subject to confirmation.
The visit is being organised under the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines. The agreement allows a fixed number of Pakistani pilgrims to visit India each year for the Urs of six designated Muslim saints. The quota for Hazrat Amir Khusro’s Urs is 200 pilgrims.
Applicants are required to use the latest prescribed form and, as per the ministry’s usual procedure, submit a non-refundable bank draft of Rs1,000 in favour of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Forms submitted on older versions will not be accepted.
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Hazrat Amir Khusro (1253–1325) was a renowned Sufi poet, musician and scholar and a close disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya. He is considered an important figure in the development of qawwali and Indo-Persian literature and is popularly known as Tuti-e-Hind, or the Parrot of India.
His shrine is located within the Nizamuddin Dargah complex in New Delhi.
The ministry organises such pilgrimages subject to security clearances, the issuance of visas by Indian authorities and the prevailing relations between Pakistan and India.
