QUETTA: Hundreds of pilgrims intending to travel to Iran blocked the city’s Gulistan road on Monday in protest against what they called the government’s refusal to send them to the border town of Taftan from where they would enter Iran.

The pilgrims, who have gathered in Quetta from different parts of the country for onward journey to Taftan and thence to Iran, began their protest on Sunday night, demanding that they should be provided security for their travel to the border town.

Officials of the home department said that around 30,000 pilgrims who had gathered in Quetta from different parts of the country were sent to Taftan under tight security last week. Extra officials were deployed to ensure a speedy immigration process for them and almost all of them had now entered Iran, they added.

According to an official of the Taftan administration, only a few pilgrims were left in the border town because of their visa problems.

A representative of the protesting pilgrims in Quetta said that they had come from different parts of the country and wanted to leave for Taftan as early as possible because they did not have arrangements for their stay in the city. All of these pilgrims had valid travel documents, he added.

The representative, who identified himself as Mussarat Agha, said that the pilgrims would continue their protest till the government made arrangements for their travel to Taftan.

A delegation of the Balochistan Shia Conference headed by Dawood Agha held a meeting with Chief Secretary Aurangzeb Haq and apprised him of the difficulties the pilgrims were facing.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2017