Sushma Swaraj tweets: Missing Indian clerics will be back tomorrow
Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted Sunday morning that she had spoken with one of the two clerics who had gone "missing" in Pakistan and that he had told her both of them would be back in Delhi Monday.
I just spoke to Syed Nazim Ali Nizami in Karachi. He told me that they are safe and will be back in Delhi tomorrow. #Nizamuddin
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) March 19, 2017
The two clerics had travelled to Pakistan on March 8.
According to Pakistani media reports, the two clerics said they had gone to meet devotees in the interiors of Sindh where there was no phone connectivity.
The duo had travelled to Pakistan to visit relatives in Karachi and then embarked on a pilgrimage to Lahore.
One of them went missing in Karachi and the other in Lahore, reports claimed.
The Indian authorities had raised the issue with the Pakistan foreign ministry seeking its help in tracing the missing duo.
Syed Asif Ali Nizami is the head priest of New Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah. The other cleric, Nazim Nizami, is also with the dargah.
Meanwhile, Amir Nizami, the son of one of the clerics, thanked Swaraj and the Indian government for helping track down his father.
"We got to know the news circulating in Pakistan media. We also got a call from the Indian government. We would like to thank the Indian government and Sushma Swaraj for their efforts. We would also thank Pakistan media," Nizami told ANI.
He added that the clerics' mobile phones were now working.
(WION with inputs from ANI)