QUETTA: 3,000 pilgrims have been left stranded for the past three days at the Iran-Pakistan border owing to the lack of security, which is necessary to escort their buses to Quetta. Those returning from pilgrimages to Iraq and Iran are usually escorted back home under heavy security. In the past, extremists have attacked various sectarian groups returning from these pilgrimages. The pilgrims are returning home from Iraq, where they had gone to commemorate Ashura.
The majority of those stranded include women and children, with 1,200 men to accompany them. “We are not being provided clean drinking water or food by the authorities. Food supplies carried by the pilgrims have finished,” said Mohammad Sadiq, a stranded pilgrim. Women and children are spending nights in the increasingly cold weather, with not much heed paid by security officials, he added.
The people stranded on the border also bemoaned a complete lack of essentials. Pilgrims are required to pay a daily fee for staying at Pakistan House, but some stranded pilgrims alleged that authorities were not escorting them, claiming more money for the service. “Pilgrims have been stopped at the Pakistan House due to security reasons and will be escorted to Quetta as soon as possible,” said a security official on the condition of anonymity.
The stranded pilgrims have implored the government for aid, and requested to be escorted to the provincial capital as soon as possible.
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