Pakistan Haj office denies ban report

In the wake of Saudi press reports here that Saudi Arabia has imposed a temporary ban on issuing Umrah visas for Pakistanis and Syrians, Director of Pakistan Haj mission in the Kingdom has denied the report.

"There is no ban on issuing Umrah visas for Pakistanis who are still coming to perform Umrah every day," Mohammed Yusuf, Director of the Pakistan Haj Mission in Saudi Arabia, told Gulf News yesterday.

"In view of the overstaying problem, the Saudi authorities have started enforcing the Umrah regulations more strictly now. This may be causing some delays in the endorsement of the visas. However, no such blanket ban has been enforced," Yusuf stressed.

Overstaying of Umrah and Haj visitors have been a perennial problem of the Saudi authorities. Last year when they enforced the new Umrah regulations, it was with the expectation that this problem would be taken care of.

According to the new rules, all Umrah visitors are required to come in groups, with a Saudi Umrah company responsible for arranging their stay and visit to the holy places and their ultimate return to their respective countries within the stipulated visa period.

The daily Al Watan reported earlier this week that Saudi Arabia has imposed a temporary ban on all pilgrims for Pakistan and Syria because of visa irregularities.

According to the paper the Ministry of Haj issued the ban because of widespread "trading in Umrah visas" last year that left around 10,000 pilgrims from Pakistan and Syria stranded in Saudi Arabia.

Sources here indicate that in past the Pakistani authorities' blacklisted 34 Pakistani travel agents since they were found to be responsible for sending a number of such pilgrims with forged confirmation of the return flights. As a result the pilgrims stayed beyond the stipulated period given in their visas.

Saudi authorities are reportedly also in touch with authorities in Yemen and Sudan to prevent any such irregularities.