The leader of the group of 25 Pakistani bikers said on Monday that they have reached the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on their way to Makkah to do Umrah. He called the trip a “journey of refulgence and enlightenment” meant to promote peace, friendship, and religious tourism.
The biker gang decided to go on the trip after the Saudi government changed the rules for Umrah pilgrims last year. The rules were changed so that foreign pilgrims could get visas that were good for three months and could be used to visit places other than Makkah.
On January 6, the group departed Lahore for Saudi Arabia, traveling almost 14,000 kilometers to Islam’s holiest city. The bikers will spend 19 days in Saudi Arabia after passing through Iran, the UAE, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait on their 60-day round-trip.
“We had been planning this trip to do Umrah by biking from Lahore to Makkah since 2019, but because of the coronavirus epidemic, we couldn’t go through with it,” said Mukaram Tareen, the leader of the group and chairman of the Cross Route Club, which set up the trip.
Tareen stated that it took five months of preparing to make the trip possible after travel was permitted the previous year. The trip is self-funded and will cost approximately one million rupees for each motorcyclist.
“This journey of refulgence and enlightenment has three objectives,” he stated. In addition to conducting Umrah, we wish to promote regional peace, friendship, and religious tourism.
Tareen said:
"We got to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday, and after a week in different Emirates like Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, we'll cross the Al Bataha border into Saudi Arabia on January 22.