DUSHANBE, October 10, 2012, Asia-Plus — Two Tajik pilgrims, who are making journey to Mecca by foot, have been detained in the border area between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.
Davlat Nazriyev, a spokesman for the Tajik MFA, told Asia-Plus the pilgrims were detained “because they do not have the Saudi Arabia visa.”
According to him, the Tajik Foreign Ministry has sent a note to the Saudi MFA asking to help solve the problem facing the pilgrims.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service quoted one of the detained pilgrims – Abdulaziz Rajabov — as saying that they are currently being held in a temporary detention center.
These two men are part of a group of seven Tajik men who had earlier pledged to travel thousands of kilometers on foot to Saudi Arabia to perform the key Muslim obligation of the hajj. This group, led by Abdulaziz Rajabov, who has already once traveled to Mecca by foot, began the journey in May. Tajik authorities helped the men to get foreign visas for the journey.
The men, most of whom are in their 60s, have pledged to walk all 4,600 kilometers, crossing at least four countries.
However, two of them cut short their journey and returned home, while three others decided to take a plane to Mecca from Iran, RFE/RL reported.
As the remaining members of the group, the two detained men continued their journey, hoping to arrive in Mecca just in time for the hajj in late October. They say they have little money and no travel insurance.
