ISLAMABAD: Preparations to make Saudi Arabia’s ‘Road to Makkah’ project a success are underway and in its final stages at major airports, officials at Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs told Arab News on Wednesday.
“Hajj flights from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia will be operational from July 4,” Imran Siddique, MRA spokesman said, adding that the officials are in talks with the Saudi government “through the foreign office to finalize all matters.”
He added that the MRA is doing everything in its capacity to facilitate Hajj pilgrims from Pakistan.
On Monday, Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said that the government was intent on making the project – which
is aimed at facilitating Hajj pilgrims from across the Muslim world – a success.
During Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to Pakistan in February this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan had requested Saudi Arabia to include Pakistan in the project, following which Saudi authorities had said that all pilgrims traveling from Pakistan would be able to clear immigration at local airports in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar.
“The aviation division has inculcated five major airports in the country to store Zamzam water for Hajj pilgrims this year,” Khan said, adding that the initiative was “as per the instructions of the Ministry of Religious Affairs to the Islamabad International Airport.”
Khan added that ample space had been allocated at several airports for the storage of Zamzam holy water which would be brought from Saudi Arabia and distributed among pilgrims on their return from Hajj this year.
“These airports include Islamabad, Quetta, Faislabad, Sukkar and Rahim Yar Khan,” he said.
In April this year, a Saudi delegation comprising officials from the Kingdom’s immigration and passport departments visited Pakistan to evaluate facilities for pilgrims at the major airports.
As part of the Road to Makkah initiative, the Hajj quota for Pakistani pilgrims has been increased from 184,210 to 200,000 this year. This year Saudi Arabia has also agreed, in principle, to provide e-visas to Pakistanis performing Hajj.
Pakistan to start Hajj flights from July 4 – official spokesman
Pakistan to start Hajj flights from July 4 – official spokesman
- Ministry of Religious Affairs says measures in place to make project a success
- Move part of Saudi’s ambitious initiative to facilitate pilgrims from all over the world
Middle East tensions halt Pakistan-Iran border trade, send food prices soaring
- Pakistan, Iran share a 909-kilometer border and communities living on either side heavily rely on informal border trade
- Residents in Balochistan’s Taftan say food prices have more than doubled, while border closures are causing heavy losses
ISLAMABAD: Prevailing tensions in the Middle East have halted borer trade between Pakistan and Iran and almost doubled food prices in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, residents said this week.
Pakistan and Iran share a 909-kilometer-long border and communities living in border towns on either side have for decades relied on informal trade between the neighboring countries.
But the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel and US interests in the Arabian Gulf have raised security fears and triggered border closures.
“The routes are closed due to the war [in Iran]. Previously, the items I used to get for Rs200-250 [up to $0.89] per kilogram now costs me Rs250-400 [$1.43],” Kamal Khan, a vegetable vendor in Balochistan’s Taftan border town, told AFP.
“This closure has caused a significant increase in prices. Here there are poor people who do not have any purchasing power left.”
Kamran Khan, a local businessman, said his business has taken a huge hit from the conflict and subsequent border closures.
“Edible goods for domestic consumption in Taftan are getting scarce. The LPG that comes [via Taftan] is now getting short all over Pakistan,” he said.
“We are losing tens of millions of rupees.”
