Local residents wait to welcome Pakistani pilgrims at Chrar on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Srinagar, Oct. 27: A batch of 12 pilgrims from Pakistan, which landed in Jammu yesterday to a warm welcome, has offered prayers at the historic Chrar-e-Sharif shrine.

The group, which includes nine members from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, reached the shrine of Kashmir?s patron saint Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali late on Tuesday and was received by residents. They offered prayers and a devotional blanket at the Sufi saint?s mausoleum.

The pilgrims were delighted to have got a chance to break their Ramazan fast inside the shrine, which was heavily damaged in May 1995 after a fierce gunbattle between holed-up militants and surrounding troops.

?We are on a peace mission. We don?t have any political motives. But we believe that the issues between the two countries should be solved peacefully. War is not a solution,? delegation head Sardar Alam Khan said.

Malik Mukhtar Ahmad, a retired music director of Radio Pakistan, echoed him. ?We want to promote peace and friendship between India and Pakistan. There is no politics involved in our visit.?

However, on Kashmir, he said: ?We Kashmiris have a unique history. We abhor violence and are not a property of either India or Pakistan. Both should leave us alone to decide our future. The people-to-people contact will help in breaking the deadlock.?

The pilgrims are scheduled to visit the Hazratbal shrine, which houses a relic of Prophet Mohamed, and is situated on the banks of the Dal Lake. They will also pay obeisance at the shrine of Sheikh Makhdoom Sahib, another highly revered local Muslim saint.

Asked about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf?s moves on resolving the Kashmir trouble, Mir Bashir Sultan, a journalist, said: ?We don?t want a division of Jammu and Kashmir, but if there is some way out to resolve the issue, what is wrong in that??

The pilgrims will meet chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed at an iftar being hosted by him.