Religious devotees carrying a shawl at the Urs of the revered saint in 2015. Photo: Reuters 

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) regretted on Monday the Indian government's decision to deprive 503 Pakistanis from taking part in the Urs of revered South Asian Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

The pilgrims from Pakistan were to attend the 806th Urs at the saint's shrine in Ajmer Sharif, Rajasthan, from March 19-29. 

In a statement, the FO said that India is violating basic human rights by not allowing Pakistanis to attend the religious gathering. 

The visit was to take place under the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines and is a regular annual feature, the FO statement said. 

Earlier, the FO said, 192 Pakistani pilgrims could not participate in the Urs of Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi from January 1-8 due to the non-issuance of visas by India.

The FO noted that in 2017, despite Pakistan's offer to send a special train, Indian delays had resulted in Sikh pilgrims from India being unable to participate in the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev and the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

Similarly, in February 2018, Pakistan had made all the arrangements for the visit of 173 Hindu pilgrims to the Katas Raj Temple in Chakwal but they were not given a go-ahead by the Indian government. 

The FO regretted that it is "ironic" that the Indian government has denied Pakistanis visas for the Urs of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti, "who has for centuries been the symbol of bringing communities closer to each other".