Religious tourism to improve Pak-India ties, says Indian HC

LAHORE: Indian High Commissioner Dr TCA Raghavan Wednesday said bilateral relations between India and Pakistan could be improved by promoting religious tourism on both sides of the border.
Addressing a ceremony at Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore, Raghavan said such peace initiatives could also help improving other key issues of the region. He said Pakistan and India were neighboring countries and witnessing ups and downs in their bilateral ties but Prime Ministers of both the countries were trying hard to put things back on the track.
The Indian HC said both the countries needed to cooperate each others on humanitarian grounds.
According to a press release, lauding efforts of Evacuee Trust Property Board, Raghavan said he has no words to explain steps being taken by the incumbent management of the board in uplifting, renovation, etc of the gurdwaras and temples of Hindus and Sikhs across Pakistan.
Expressing gratitude on the part of his government, the HC said the incumbent ETPB chairman has done a lot for the Yatrees in his short stint at chairman of the board. He also thanked the government of Pakistan and Abdul Sattar Edhi for taking care of an Indian girl Geeta for 12 years in Karachi.
ETPB chairman Siddiq-ul-Farooq in his address said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has given him special instructions of taking care of Sikh and Hindu Yatrees as well as their religious places.
He said 200 rooms for Yatrees would be constructed at Gurdwara Dera Sahib soon with the special financial assistance of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He said renovation of other religious places across the country was underway and would be completed soon.