ACCORDING to news reports about 3,000 pilgrims are stranded at the Iran-Pakistan border owing to lack of security needed to escort their buses to Quetta. The numbers of those stranded include children and women, with about 1,200 men, who were returning from Iran and Iraq. They should have been escorted by security forces because of the attacks in the past, as well as the existing threat of attacks by sectarian outfits on buses carrying pilgrims.

Also, the pilgrims pay for staying at the Pakistan House. How unfortunate that the authorities are charging them extra money. All of them are spending nights under the sky in cold weather.

Shakeel Phullan

Turbat

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2016