QUETTA: Hundreds of pilgrims, including women and children, are stranded in Quetta after the federal government banned land travel to Iran and Iraq, prompting protests from those intending to make a religious journey to these countries.

Large numbers of pilgrims, who arrived in Quetta on Sunday night in five passenger coaches, staged a protest demanding the government immediately lift the ban.

Demonstrators gathered at Shuhada Chowk on Alamdar road, home to most of the city’s Imambar­gahs, and blocked the main road.

The protesters, joined by leaders of the Balochistan Shia Conference, chanted slogans against the government. “We have reached Quetta to travel to Iran and Iraq for the Arbaeen pilgrimage which will start in the evening of Aug 14 and will continue till Aug 15, in Karbala,” said a pilgrim without giving his name.

We will go to Karbala and the ban on travelling through land routes is not accepted, protestors chanted.

They said the government’s alternative to travel by air is unaffordable for most people. “Air tickets are very expensive and such large numbers of people cannot afford travelling by-air,” a protester said.

A spokesman for the Balochistan government, Shahid Rind, confirmed the federal ban on road travel to Iran and Iraq, admitting that the provincial government was taken into confidence regarding the decision.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2025