Haridwar: Pilgrims from Pakistan visiting Piran Kaliyar Sharif shrine for the annual Urs festival beginning from Tuesday will be gifted copies of the Bhagavad Gita and sacred waters of the Ganga this time, Uttarakhand Waqf Board Chairman Shadab Shams said.
The dargah of 13th century Sufi saint of Chishti Order Alauddin Ali Ahmed Sabir Kalyari, also known as Sarkar Sabir Pak and revered by both Muslims and Hindus, is situated at Kaliyar village near Roorkee on the banks of the Ganga.
Officials said 110 pilgrims are coming from Pakistan to visit Piran Kaliyar Sharif during Urs this year.
Pilgrims from Pakistan visit Piran Kaliyar Sharif every year but it is for the first time that they are being gifted copies of the Bhagavad Gita and sacred waters of the Ganga, Shams said.
“The state waqf board and Kaliyar Sharif Management Committee will jointly present the gifts to the pilgrims from Pakistan with a request to hand them over to the priests and mahants of temples in that country as a sacred souvenir from Devbhoomi,” Shams said.
The first lamp of Urs is to be lit on Tuesday, he said.
Former chief ministers of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Harish Rawat are likely to attend the function. —PTI
