Following many meetings to discuss measures to ease travel restrictions and facilitate religious pilgrimages, Pakistan and Iraq on Wednesday unveiled a number of initiatives targeted at helping pilgrims visiting Iraq for Arbaeen.
The historic agreements were made on Wednesday after a high-level meeting between Iraqi Ambassador Hamid Abbas Lafta and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who pledged to facilitate and ease the path for thousands of devotees.
Both parties agreed that Pakistani pilgrims would no longer have to turn in their passports when they arrived in Iraq for Arbaeen, the Islamic celebration that takes place 40 days after Imam Hussain’s (RA) death on the 10th of Muharram, also known as Chehlum.The meeting resolved to enhance the quota for pilgrims from Pakistan and to have visas provided directly by the Iraqi Embassy, circumventing travel agencies.
