Hindu pilgrims cancel visit to temple in Pakistan

About 200 Hindu pilgrims cancelled a proposed visit to a temple in Pakistan on Saturday after they were asked by the authorities to go to the trouble-torn country at their own risk.

The Hindu pilgrims had planned to go to a temple at Katasraj in Chakwal district of Pakistan on the occasion of Shivratri but dropped the idea after the "uncooperative" attitude of the Centre, Surinder Kumar Billa, president of the Amritsar unit of the Shiv Sena, which was to lead the pilgrimage told journalists here.

"Besides asking them to submit their passports, the ministry of external affairs also demanded a declaration from each devotee that they were going to Pakistan at their own risk in view of the sensitive law and order situation there," Billa said.

"In circumstances like these when dozens of people are dieing in Pakistan almost every day who would take the risk of going to the trouble-torn country without a security cover," the Sena leader said.