Travel agents refuse Umrah visa to these Pakistani pilgrims

LAHORE—Although travel agents promote religious pilgrimage and are passionate about convincing Muslims to go to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, this is not the case this time.

As the number of Umrah goers begging in the holy land has spiked in recent months, travel agents in Pakistan’s provincial capital, Lahore, are cautious about issuing visas to a specific category of applicants.

Specifically, travel agents are reluctant to issue Umrah visas to those aspiring to go to Saudi Arabia alone. Multiple travel agents have voiced concerns that those who head to Saudi Arabia alone on Umrah visas end up becoming beggars in the country.

As the holy month of Ramadan has dawned, hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Pakistan head to Saudi…