Pakistani youth walking from Okara to Makkah for Hajj pilgrimage again facing visa issues

ISLAMABAD. (Raja Furqan Ahmed) : Usman Arshad, a resident of Punjab’s Okara district who already started his once-in-a-lifetime ‘dream journey’ on foot to the holy city of Makkah and currently reached Quetta, is again facing visa issues. While speaking to Raja Furqan Ahmed, Usman said that he didn’t get visas for Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. “Unfortunately, I have some visa problems on this trip that the Foreign Ministry can assist. In my journey, I will pass through Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait to reach Saudi Arabia and must obtain these visas before arriving,” he said. “I already have an Iran visa but facing difficulties in obtaining Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia visas,” he added. “It has been almost ten days since I came from Quetta to Islamabad to solve my visa issues and start my journey again from Quetta,” he said. Usman said, “On August 11, 2022, I met with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto. Bilawal issued orders to the relevant DG to solve the problems but yet the issue is not solved.” “I wrote to embassies, tweeted for help, and even went to several offices, but officials are saying that case is under process. I couldn’t have waited for my visas to arrive, or I would have wasted time. So that’s why I decided to start my journey within Pakistan before I got my visas,” Usman said. Usman Arshad is walking to Makkah to arrive in time for the 2023 Hajj pilgrimage, carrying only a small backpack and a black umbrella. With the Pakistani flag pin on his shirt, he began the journey from his hometown Okara on October 1 and hopes to reach his destination in about eight months. Arshad will reach Saudi Arabia, traveling through Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait. The trip is around 5,400km and he is walking an average of 30 to 40km each day. Arshad also plans to visit religious sites in Iran and Iraq on his way to Makkah. Sharing the details of items in his bag pack, Arshad said it contains a few clothes, a mobile phone, a charger and power bank, an umbrella, a torch, water bottles, and a medicine kit. “If I need anything else, I’d just buy it but I don’t want to carry heavy stuff that slows down my pace,” he said. Last year, Arshad also walk from Okara to the Khunjerab Pass on the Pakistan-China border, known as the highest border crossing in the world, in 34 days.