ISLAMABAD: Foreign visitors who have taken two doses of China's Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines will be allowed into Saudi Arabia, it announced on its e-visa portal, though these international travelers will still require a booster shot of one of four Western coronavirus vaccines approved by the kingdom.
This is good news for Pakistan where a majority of people have been vaccinated using Chinese jabs, and from where thousands travel to the kingdom each year for work and for the Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages.
Saudi Arabia decided to reopen its tourism sector to international travelers from August 1 after specifying its vaccine preferences.
"All visitors arriving in the country with a valid tourism visa must provide evidence of a full course of one the four vaccines currently recognized: two doses of the Oxford/Astra Zeneca, Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or a single dose of the vaccine produced by Johnson and Johnson," the e-visa portal said, adding:
"Guests who have completed two doses of the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines will be accepted if they have received an additional dose of one of the four vaccines approved in the Kingdom."
Foreign nationals who seek to travel to Saudi Arabia are still required to provide a negative PCR test taken no more than 72 hours before their departure to the kingdom along with a proper vaccination certificate.
"There is no quarantine requirement for vaccinated travelers to Saudi," the notification on the official website said.
The e-visa portal also announced travelers entering on a previously issued tourism visa "will be required to pay an additional fee of SAR 40 at the airport ... to cover insurance for any COVID-19 related medical expenses."
Good news for Pakistan: Foreigners vaccinated with Chinese jabs can enter Saudi Arabia
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Good news for Pakistan: Foreigners vaccinated with Chinese jabs can enter Saudi Arabia
- International travelers will still require a booster shot of one of four approved Western vaccines
- Saudi authorities say there is no quarantine requirement for vaccinated people arriving in the country
Peshawar church attack haunts Christians at Christmas
- The 2013 suicide attack at All Saints Church killed 113 worshippers, leaving lasting scars on survivors
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities on Christmas, act against any injustice
PESHAWAR: After passing multiple checkpoints under the watchful eyes of snipers stationed overhead, hundreds of Christians gathered for a Christmas mass in northwest Pakistan 12 years after suicide bombers killed dozens of worshippers.
The impact of metal shards remain etched on a wall next to a memorial bearing the names of those killed at All Saints Church in Peshawar, in the violence-wracked province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“Even today, when I recall that day 12 years ago, my soul trembles,” Natasha Zulfiqar, a 30-year-old housewife who was wounded in the attack along with her parents, told AFP on Thursday.
Her right wrist still bears the scar.
A militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on September 22, 2013, when 113 people were killed, according to a church toll.
“There was blood everywhere. The church lawn was covered with bodies,” Zulfiqar said.
Christians make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people and have long faced discrimination in the conservative Muslim country, often sidelined into low-paying jobs and sometimes the target of blasphemy charges.
Along with other religious minorities, the community has often been targeted by militants over the years.
Today, a wall clock inside All Saints giving the time of the blast as 11:43 am is preserved in its damaged state, its glass shattered.
“The blast was so powerful that its marks are still visible on this wall — and those marks are not only on the wall, but they are also etched into our hearts as well,” said Emmanuel Ghori, a caretaker at the church.
Addressing a Christmas ceremony in the capital Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities.
“I want to make it clear that if any injustice is done to any member of a minority, the law will respond with full force,” he said.
For Azzeka Victor Sadiq, whose father was killed and mother wounded in the blasts, “The intensity of the grief can never truly fade.”
“Whenever I come to the church, the entire incident replays itself before my eyes,” the 38-year-old teacher told AFP.
