India disallows Hindu Yatrees to land Jaipur through PIA’s special flight

KARACHI, January 28: The Indian government has refused to allow
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) a special flight carrying Hindu
pilgrims travelling between Karachi and Jaipur.
The PIA had sought pe mission from the Indian Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA) for authorization to fly Hindu pilgrims from Karachi to Jaipur on January 29.
The special PIA flight was arranged on the request of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) for visit to religious sites and the flight had to carry 160 pilgrims from Karachi to Lahore on Saturday morning and then to Jaipur.
“The flight had to land at Jaipur airport at 12:00 noon on Saturday,” they said and added that however, the PIA was not given permission to plan the flight.
Earlier, despite a complete standstill in trade and travel between India and Pakistan, a new proposal by the Pakistan Hindu Council to allow Hindu, Muslim and Sikh pilgrims to travel by air had been forwarded by the government in Islamabad.
The proposal was sent to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi on behalf of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) chief patron Ramesh Vankwani, asking that two chartered flights of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying pilgrims be allowed to fly from Lahore and Karachi to destinations in India this Saturday.
Last month, Hindu pilgrims from India were flown from Lahore to Peshawar on a PIA flight despite India did not allow PIA flights to New Delhi.-NNI