ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf has underlined the need for more cooperation between Iran and Pakistan to facilitate pilgrims travel.

In an interview with IRNA, Sardar Yousaf said that Iran and Pakistan are brotherly states and both countries should enhance their cooperation in the field of tourism especially the religious tourism.

He said that the government of Pakistan has been taking steps to make the arrangements of the pilgrims going to Iran better and for this the ministry of religious affairs is holding regular meetings. “We want to organize tours of the Pakistani pilgrims for Iran with better facilities and for this, we are giving extra focus to facilitate more and more pilgrims with good arrangements,” he said.

The minister was of the view that private tour operators recommended by the Pakistani government should be involved in arranging the tours for Pakistani pilgrims going to Iran. “Whether the pilgrims go by road, air or by ship, we want to give them excellent facilities,” said Sardar Muhammad Yousaf.

He added that embassy of Iran has assured that they are ready to cooperate with us to facilitate the pilgrims’ affairs and making their journey more comfortable and hassle free. He went on to say that governments of both Iran and Pakistan are sincerely taking steps for the facilitation of pilgrimage.

The official said people of the two countries desire to go into each other’s country without any difficulty which would also enhance the bilateral ties. “We also want to enhance our ties with Iran in commercial tourism,” he said. He called for promotion of people-to-people contacts between Iran and Pakistan.—NNI