ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant on the Middle East, Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, on Monday welcomed Saudi Arabia’s decision to resume the Umrah pilgrimage for international visitors, halted earlier due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Saudi media, the Kingdom has decided to resume International Umrah from the first of the Islamic month of Muharram, likely to fall on August 10 this year.
“We welcome the decision of resumption Umran for foreign pilgrims and whatever mechanism Saudi government will devise, Pakistan will follow that,” Ashrafi told Arab News. “Pakistani ministry of religious affairs and [Saudi] Ministry of Hajj and Umrah have contacts and if there will be any issues, both will coordinate on that.”
Media reports suggested COVID-19 vaccinations would be mandatory for all pilgrims.
Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis would visit Saudi Arabia every year, mainly for Umrah and Hajj, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Umrah is a pilgrimage which can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to Hajj, which has specific dates according to the Islamic lunar calendar.
Saudi Arabia closed its borders last February to foreign Umrah pilgrims, and in March stopped its own citizens and residents from taking part. Last July, it allowed a limited number of domestic pilgrims to perform the Hajj. This year too, Saudi Arabia restricted the annual Hajj pilgrimage to its own citizens and residents for the second year running in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pakistan welcomes resumption of Umrah for foreign pilgrims from August 10
https://arab.news/m4879
Pakistan welcomes resumption of Umrah for foreign pilgrims from August 10
- Says will follow whatever mechanism Saudi government devises
- Pakistani religious affairs and Saudi Hajj ministries coordinating
Pakistan’s Sindh orders inquiry after clashes at Imran Khan party rally in Karachi
- Khan’s PTI party accuses police of shelling to disperse its protesters, placing hurdles to hinder rally in Karachi
- Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah vows all those found guilty in the inquiry will be punished
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has ordered an inquiry into clashes that took place between police and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Karachi on Sunday, as it held a rally to demand his release from prison.
The provincial government had granted PTI permission to hold a public gathering at Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah Park and had also welcomed Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party is in power, when he arrived in the city last week. However, the PTI cited a delay in receiving a permit and announced a last-minute change to a gate of Mazar-i-Quaid, the mausoleum of the nation’s founder.
Despite the change, PTI supporters congregated at the originally advertised venue. PTI officials claimed the party faced obstacles in reaching the venue and that its supporters were met with police intervention. Footage of police officers arresting Khan supporters in Karachi were shared widely on social media platforms.
“A complete inquiry is being held and whoever is found guilty in this, he will be punished,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said while speaking to a local news channel on Sunday.
Shah said the PTI had sought permission to hold its rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi from the Sindh government, even though the venue’s administration falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
He said problems arose when the no objection certificate to hold the rally was delayed for a few hours and the party announced it would hold the rally “on the road.”
The rally took place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated since August 2023, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases.
