Visit visas on which Mughal and his wife travelled for Hajj. PHOTO: EXPRESS
RAWALPINDI: Despite measures taken by the government to weed out tour operators offering questionable packages for the Hajj pilgrimage, it seems that at least one sent a number of them to Saudi Arabia on the wrong visas.
Pilgrims, who recently returned from Saudi Arabia after performing Hajj on tours offered by a private tour company, told The Express Tribune that they travelled to the kingdom on visit visas rather than the specific Hajj visas meant for the pilgrimage.
Returning home: First batch of pilgrims arrive at Peshawar airport
Under Saudi law, performing Hajj or Umra on a visit visa is unlawful and violators can be arrested.
“We were constantly in fear of arrest in Makkah since we did not have a Hajj visa,” Ghulam Mustafa Mughal told The Express Tribune.
The 60-year-old added that the tour operator ill-treated them and did not provide them with the accommodations or food that had been promised to them.
Narrating his ordeal, Mughal said that he had approached the company after looking at an advertisement for Hajj services. After contacting the tour operator’s offices in Aabpara, Islamabad, Mughal said he bought packages for himself and his wife at Rs425,000 each.
The tour company’s owner took their passports for visa processing and only returned them on July 30, just before their flight to Madina was due to take off.
“The operator’s delay in obtaining the visa did not allow us time to get vaccinated,” an angry Mughal said. He added that they were not wearing the Ahraam, the obligatory clothing worn during Hajj or Umra, during their flight.
After boarding the aircraft, Mughal learnt from some of the other passengers that they too were flying to Saudi Arabia for Hajj through Air World Travels and Tour Company on a visit visa.
“I called my son, who was still at the airport, and he and some other people spoke with Rehman, who gave them written assurances over the responsibility of all legal consequences in Saudi Arabia.”
Not donning the Ahraam, the pilgrims were allowed into Saudi Arabia on their visas. The couple, along with 48 other pilgrims, returned to Pakistan on September 15, but not before they lodged a complaint at the Pakistan Hajj mission in Makkah.
Mughal’s story was verified by two other pilgrims, who wished not to be named in this report. Mughal, meanwhile, said he was considering legal action against the Hajj operator.
Residents urge CJ, NAB to recover looted funds
Nazakat Ali, who works on Hajj tours, told The Express Tribune that performing pilgrimage on a visit visa is illegal.
Repeated attempts to contact the staff or the owners of the tour operator yielded no response.
Helpless govt?
A senior official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Rawalpindi told The Express Tribune that under the law, no legal action can be taken against an operator who sent pilgrims for Hajj on a visit visa.
“If the visa is genuine, the immigration staff cannot be stopped from travelling.”
However, he said pilgrims can lodge a complaint with the federal ministry of religious affairs to take action against the Hajj operator.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2016.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ