The authorities have also halted the visits of foreign pilgrims to the Masjid-e-Nabavi in Medina and the tourist-visa holders will also be denied entry into the holy land. In addition, Saudi nationals and citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations have also been restricted to use their national identity cards to travel to and from the Saudi Arabia except those Saudis returning home, and citizens of GCC countries who are in the Kingdom and want to return to their home countries, provided that they left or entered the Kingdom using a national identity card.

The decision to stop Umrah pilgrims has not only raised divided opinions among religious scholars but the same will create detrimental impact on the financial ledgers of the international airlines, which carry pilgrims across the globe.

This temporary ban of 48 hours on Umrah pilgrims will provide a financial shock of around Rs. 180 million to the PIA, which lifts around 32 percent of total Umrah pilgrims from Pakistan.

Out of total eight million Muslims, who make their journey to Saudi Arabia to perform religious duties annually, around 1.5 million Umrah pilgrims travel from Pakistan, which is said to be the second highest number after Indonesia.

When contacted, PIA spokesman confirmed that the decision would create adverse impact on PIA's revenues as the KSA sector contributed 37 percent of total earnings of national flag carrier. He said that PIA had lifted 480 thousands Umrah pilgrims last year, which was 32 percent of total Umrah passengers.

"This is off season as majority of intended pilgrims are planning to perform Umrah in the holy month of Ramazan, starting from late April, 2020 but PIA's daily average sale of Umrah tickets is still around 1500 hence the cumulative loss would be nearly around Rs. 180 million after said restriction," he maintained.

"We have cancelled 1,400 tickets of Umrah pilgrims, who were scheduled to travel with PIA on February 27, 2020 (Thursday) after this temporary ban." Moreover, he said that PIA had sold 33000 Umrah tickets for next month (March) and the national flag carrier would be hit hard, if this ban was extended further.

Needless to mention, the Saudi government restricted pilgrims from some countries during after Ebola outbreak in 2014 but now this worldwide ban appears unprecedented, raising divided opinion by Islamic scholars.

Islamic scholars from other part of the world expressed astonishment over the decision, saying that the fear of spreading corona virus was absolutely unjustified as it was permissible to wear protective face masks while performing Umrah. On the other hand, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has announced its support with Saudi government to protect pilgrims and visitors from corona virus.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020