{"id":14958,"date":"2025-07-27T12:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T12:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=14958"},"modified":"2025-07-27T12:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T12:04:17","slug":"land-routes-barred-for-arbaeen-pilgrims-amid-security-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=14958","title":{"rendered":"Land routes barred for Arbaeen pilgrims amid security concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>The Pakistani government has imposed a ban on overland travel to Iran and Iraq for Arbaeen pilgrims, citing national security and public safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced that pilgrims will now only be allowed to travel to the holy sites in Iran and Iraq by air. \u201cPilgrims will not be permitted to use road routes to Iraq and Iran,\u201d he said in a message shared on social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis decision has been made in view of public safety and national security,\u201d the minister added, stating that the ban was finalised after consultation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Balochistan government, and security agencies.<\/p>\n<p>After extensive consultations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Balochistan Government, and security agencies, it has been decided that Zaireen will not be allowed to travel to Iraq and Iran by road for Arbaeen this year. This difficult decision was taken in the interest of\u2026<br \/>\n\u2014 Mohsin Naqvi (@MohsinnaqviC42) July 27, 2025<\/p>\n<p>To accommodate the change, the federal government has decided to increase the number of flights. \u201cUnder Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s directive, more flights will be arranged for Arbaeen pilgrims,\u201d Naqvi said, noting that maximum possible flight capacity will be ensured.<\/p>\n<p>Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced a special flight operation for Arbaeen starting August 8. Outbound flights from Pakistan to Najaf will operate from August 8 to 11, while return flights from Najaf to Pakistan are scheduled for August 18 to 23.<\/p>\n<p>Read More: Pakistan, Iran and Iraq to form joint body to streamline pilgrim travel<\/p>\n<p>PIA has set the fare at USD 675 per passenger for the special Arbaeen operation. However, many intending pilgrims have urged PIA to reduce the fare and introduce additional flights to meet high demand during the religious occasion.<\/p>\n<p>Every year, hundreds of thousands of Pakistani pilgrims travel overland to Najaf via Iran. The sudden ban on road travel is expected to significantly affect travel logistics, especially for those unable to afford air travel.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pakistani government has imposed a ban on overland travel to Iran and Iraq for Arbaeen pilgrims, citing national security and public safety concerns. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced that pilgrims will now only be allowed to travel to the holy sites in Iran and Iraq by air. \u201cPilgrims will not be permitted to use [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14958\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}