PM inaugurates ‘Road to Makkah’ project

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan formally inaugurated the ‘Road to Makkah’ project at the Islamabad International Airport (IIA) on Friday.

The project is a Saudi initiative which will benefit 21,000 intending pilgrims, as the immigration and relevant processes for the holy journey are being completed at the Islamabad International Airport instead of passing through these procedures at the Saudi airports.

Imran was given a detailed briefing on the project. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Religious Affairs said the project is a gift from the Saudi Arabia to the intending Pakistani pilgrims and 21,000 Hujjaj will benefit from it.

For the first time on Thursday, the Saudi immigration staff cleared 368 Pakistani pilgrims at the Islamabad International Airport and the first flight of Saudi Airlines (SV-3719) carrying 368 pilgrims took off for Madina at 11am. The pilgrims were also administered polio drops.

A Saudi immigration team had arrived in the federal capital earlier in the week and set up special immigration counters at the airport. The pilgrims were seen off by Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Saudi Ambassador Nawaf Bin Said Al Malki and Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Syed Noorul Haq Qadri.

‘Road to Makkah’ is a pilot project started from Islamabad and will be extended

to other airports of the country. Under the project, pilgrims traveling from Pakistan would be able to clear immigration at Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar, though the facility has started at the IIA only as of now.