Pilgrims protest delay in issuance of visas

Travel agent representative assures visa will be issued by Aug 16 or money refunded

RAWALPINDI: Over one hundred Hajj pilgrims on Saturday evening protested outside the office of a Hajj operator against delay in issuance of visas as they have already received air tickets for August 13.

The charged people some of them aspiring pilgrims and their relatives stormed the office of Al-Hashmi Travels on Mall Road in Saddar allegedly for not obtaining Hajj visas for them well on time as they had already deposited full payment.

The protesting men even roughed up two employees of the travel agency as they tried to stop the protestors . The protestors were asking the agent to either provide them passports with visas or refund their amount.



“We approached Al-Sahah travels’ office at Chandni Chowk on Murree Road in May as my elder brother Saeed Ahmed and his wife wanted to go for Hajj. Al-Sabah travels contacted Al-Hashmi travelers for obtaining visas”, said Hafiz Zaheer from Talagang while talking to Express Tribune.

He said that they deposited in total Rs460, 000 for complete Hajj package for one person. He added that they paid Rs100, 000 in advance in May and rest of the amount they paid some 20 days ago. He said that the travel agent collected their passports for stamping of the visas.

When the aspiring pilgrims started mounting pressure on the travel agent, they were provided with travel tickets issued by Pakistan International Airlines scheduled for August 13 some two weeks ago.

“The travel date has approached. We are stilling waiting for our passports. we visited Hajji Camp for registration and vaccination, the authorities informed us that first we needed to have the Hajj visa”, said Hajji Zafar Iqbal, another man who wants to go to Saudi Arabia.

Iqbal said that they feared that the agent had failed to obtain the visas and was just giving them a lollipop and would run away with Rs47.5 million that he had collected from 108 intending pilgrims He said that he lived in Rawalpindi and would not allow the agent to flee away with their hard earned money.

The protestors said that they would approach Federal Investigation Agency against the agent if they were not given the visas for Hajj.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2017.