'Pakistan trying to locate 2 missing Indian clerics'

Mumbai: Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Saturday said that authorities were looking into locating the two Indian clerics who went missing after visiting a shrine in Lahore.

"The issue was taken up by the Indian government. Our authorities are looking into it. We are trying our best," Basit said while addressing the 'India Today Conclave 2017' here.

On Friday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj confirmed that she spoke to the Pakistani authorities over the incident.

Syed Asif Ali Nizami, 80, and his nephew Nazim Ali Nizami visited Lahore on March 13 to offer a "chadar" at Baba Farid's shrine.

On March 14, they offered another "chadar" at the Data Darbar Sufi shrine also in Lahore.

The next day when they reached the airport to return to Karachi, Nazim Ali Nizami was stopped to clear some documentation and Syed Asif Ali Nizami was asked to board the flight.

He reached Karachi airport and asked his relatives to pick him up but he did not come out.

Since then, their mobile phones have been switched off and their family in India has not been able to get in touch with them.