RIYADH, Dec 29 (DNA): Pakistan has been on top of the list of the
countries whose citizens visited Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah
pilgrimage since the season started on August 31 of this year.

As many as 2,031,751 Umrah visas were issued visas since the season
started about four months ago and a total of 1,566,754 pilgrims arrived
the country, according to a report issued by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj
and Umrah.

According to official statistics by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, over
4,00,000 Pakistani citizens performed Umrah during the period.

The Saudi ministry said as many as 411,140 pilgrims have come from
Pakistan which tops all the countries in the number of Umrah pilgrims.
Among other countries 368,193 pilgrims from Indonesia, 221,956 from
India, 97,709 from Malaysia, 65,083 from Turkey, 53,962 from Egypt,
47,962 from Bangladesh, 45,950 from Algeria, 29,544 from the United Arab
Emirates and 23,926 from Jordan.

Talking to an Arabic newspaper, Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Ministry
Spokesman Imran Siddiqui said one of the reasons behind the growing
number of pilgrims from Pakistan is the strengthening of bilateral
relations between the two countries, a report of Radio Pakistan said.

The Saudi authorities said a total of 1,221,304 pilgrims have left the
Kingdom after completing their Umrah rituals and visiting Madinah to pay
homage to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and pray at his mosque.

The ministry mid last week introduced a new service aimed at covering
the Umrah pilgrims coming from outside with insurance against emergency
medical cases, delay or canceling of flights, incidents, disasters and
others.

The initiative was within the programs of the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision
aimed at providing excellent services to the Guests of Allah. DNA