IRNA � Chairman of Pakistan pilgrim welfare foundations says that Iranian embassy and consulates in Pakistan have issued record number of visas to Pakistani pilgrims this year for Arbaeen.
�
Javed Zaidi told IRNA that Iranian consulates in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar are working day and night for the issuance of visas.

The pilgrim caravan organizer said that his foundation works like a bridge between the Iranian consulates in Pakistan and the pilgrims and help remove problems occurred during the visa issuance process.

He said that pilgrims have to go by road to Iran and Iraq because there are no direct flights available on the route and the common man cannot bear the expenses of the air travel which is quite high in the current season.

He said that connecting flights of foreign airliners are available from Pakistan to Iran and Iraq but it is too expensive for Pakistani pilgrims to take these flights.

Javed Zaidi said that Pakistan International Airline must fly directly to Iran from big cities of Pakistan. He said that right now only Iranian Taban airline is flying non-stop from Lahore to Mashhad.

He also said that Iran must withdraw its requirement for medical certificate and insurance for Pakistani pilgrims because these conditions are creating a lot of problems for the poor pilgrims.

He hoped that Iranian and Pakistani governments would take more steps to make the journey of pilgrims easier and faster.