ISLAMABAD: Nearly 200,000 Pakistani pilgrims have reached Saudi Arabia to perform one of the most sacred religious rituals as annual Muslim pilgrimage begins in Makkah today.
The Hajj is among the five pillars of Islam that is mandatory for all adult Muslims who are financially and physically capable to undertake the journey at least once in their lives.
It is a combination of different rituals that last for five days in Makkah and three other places – Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat — on the outskirts of that city.
This year, around 30,000 Pakistanis availed the pre-departure facility at the Islamabad International Airport under ‘Road to Makkah’ project.
“The pre-Hajj flight operation has concluded successfully with zero complaints from pilgrims,” Imran Siddique, spokesperson for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News from Makkah.
Lauding the Saudi government for its cooperation, he said the Pakistani pilgrims were given “the best” accommodation, transportation and food facilities in both Makkah and Madinah.
“Our pilgrims who have benefited from the Road to Makkah project this year are particularly thankful to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for extending the facility to Pakistan,” Siddique said, hoping the project would also be extended to other airports of the country in the coming years.
Pakistan was included in the ‘Road to Makkah’ project during a February visit to Islamabad by the Saudi crown prince, after which it was announced that all pilgrims traveling from Islamabad airport would benefit from pre-departure immigration facility. Malaysia and Indonesia are already part of the project.
A team of Saudi officials set up the pilot immigration program at the Islamabad International Airport in July which provided immigration facility to about 30,000 Pakistani pilgrims flying from the country’s federal capital. The project helped these pilgrims save 10 to 12 hours of waiting time at Saudi airports.
Siddique said that Pakistani Hajj pilgrims were allotted 13 Makaatib [service offices] in train zone, 23 in old Mina and 24 in new Mina. About 54,000 Pakistani pilgrims would avail train facility, he added, while buses had been arranged for the rest of the pilgrims for their movement in the area where Hajj rituals are performed.
Pakistan’s post-Hajj flight operation will continue from August 17 to September 14 this year.
200,000 Pakistani pilgrims reach Saudi Arabia as annual Hajj ritual begins today
200,000 Pakistani pilgrims reach Saudi Arabia as annual Hajj ritual begins today
- Pakistan hopes “Road to Makkah” project will be extended to other cities after 30,000 pilgrims benefited at Islamabad airport this year
- The county’s post-Hajj flight operation will begin from August 17
Pakistan turns to immersive technology to reimagine ancient Gandhara
- New gallery uses artificial intelligence and 3D visuals to present Buddhist heritage
- Visitors can explore archaeological sites digitally rather than through static displays
ISLAMABAD: At the Islamabad Museum, history no longer sits quietly behind glass.
In September 2025, the museum introduced Pakistan’s first Digital Immersive Gallery, an experiment in how ancient civilizations can be narrated in the age of artificial intelligence, 3D projection and virtual environments. Developed in collaboration with the Korea Heritage Agency, Pakistan’s Department of Archaeology and the National Heritage and Culture Division, the gallery marks a shift from object-centered displays to experience-based storytelling.
Rather than beginning with labels and timelines, the gallery opens with movement, sound and light. Visitors are invited to step into a reconstructed visual world shaped around Gandhara, one of South Asia’s most influential yet often under-explained civilizations that developed across what is now northwestern Pakistan and parts of eastern Afghanistan and later played a foundational role in the spread of Buddhism beyond the subcontinent.
“We have shown here in our Immersive Gallery how Buddhism flourished here, how it was introduced, how it declined and how it shifted to China, Korea and Japan from here,” Dr. Abdul Ghafoor, Deputy Director at the Department of Archaeology and Museums, told Arab News.
“In order to make it, the content developed by Korea has fully used AI and IT,” he continued. “AI and IT are common in Korea and other developed countries, but we have done it for the first time in Pakistan.”
Gandhara flourished between the first century BCE and the fifth century CE in this region, which served as a cultural crossroads, shaped by Greek, Central Asian, Persian and South Asian influences.
It was here that artists first began depicting the Buddha in human form, a visual language that later traveled along trade routes to Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan. This transmission of ideas, beliefs and artistic styles forms the core narrative of the immersive gallery.
“Inside the gallery, visitors are drawn into a world of interactive experiences, heritage documentaries they can zoom in and out of, Gandhara artifacts explored up close and photo zones where they can capture themselves against Pakistan’s most iconic sites,” Muhammad Azeem, Project Director at the Department of Archaeology and Museums, said.
While Gandhara anchors the gallery, the experience expands outward to place it within a longer and wider historical arc. One section is dedicated to Pakistan’s six UNESCO World Heritage Sites, offering visitors a compressed journey across centuries and regions.
“The main hall takes it further with a fully immersive 3D journey,” Azeem added. “Each seven-minute segment transports audiences to treasures like Mohenjo-Daro, Makli Necropolis, Lahore’s Shalimar Gardens and Sheesh Mahal, and the historic landscapes of Taxila and Takht-i-Bahi, making the past feel vivid, unforgettable and alive.”
For many visitors, the gallery’s appeal lies in how it lowers the barrier to understanding. Instead of long explanatory panels, history is introduced through visuals, motion and guided narrative.
“I saw different historical sites on big screens which was very exciting for me,” Fatima Nawaz, a government employee, said. “After that, I watched a complete documentary in the gallery, which was about 20 minutes long, and in which different historical sites related to Gandhara were highlighted.”
“Overall, it was a very good experience,” she added.
Researchers see the initiative as part of a broader global shift in how museums function.
“My topic is Cultural Heritage Museum, and with this research, I am studying and visiting museums,” Abdul Khaliq, an M.Phil. student at Quaid-e-Azam University, said. “One thing I have not seen in Pakistan before is the shift toward virtual reality.”
He added that it was a good step while calling the immersive gallery “very educational and gives us a lot to learn.”
For the officials involved in the project, the gallery is a starting point rather than a finished model.
“The response we have received from the public in Islamabad makes me feel that this should be done in all the museums, in all four provinces of Pakistan,” Dr. Ghafoor, the senior archaeology department official, said. “This is because it can make it easier to follow history.”
“I think such immersive galleries should be there in all the museums,” he added.
