ISLAMABAD – Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Senator Talha Mahmood has expressed the hope that the government may give a subsidy to the intending Hajjis but warned that the pilgrims can face difficulties during the Hajj this year.
The minister maintained that he was trying to give maximum relief to the pilgrims while highlighting that the federal government and the Ministry of Religious Affairs had given a subsidy of around Rs150,000 to pilgrims during last year’s Hajj.
The minister vowed that if he is given the oppurtunity next year, then he can execute the Hajj in an excellent fashion citing loopholes in current Hajj plan.
Talha was also not satisfied with Aviation Ministry’s approach, and said that PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) wants the government to use its service for transportation of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia but he was not satisfied with their service.
Talking to a private TV channel, he said he had recently visited Saudi Arabia in connection with Hajj arrangements and the PIA flight by which he travelled was late by over two hours.
The minister also said that the seats were not comfortable, stressing PIA to improve their service as religious affairs ministry would be questioned if PIA flights are delayed in Saudi Arabia.
Even the Saudi civil aviation department was not satisfied with PIA’s performance, he confirmed.
Earlier, addressing a news conference in Islamabad, Mahmood said that 180,000 pilgrims would perform Hajj this year, and the first Hajj flight would depart on May 20 or May 21.
The minister also warned that stern action would be taken against private Hajj operators who would not fulfil their commitments.
“I cannot arrange an ideal Hajj, but I will definitely try to reduce the miseries of the public during their pilgrimage. I am not yet satisfied with the arrangements and maybe I have to go to Saudi Arabia again. I am confident that the issues will be successfully resolved,” he admitted.
For Pakistani pilgrims, the deadline for submission of application for this year’s Hajj ended on April 9 for Sponsorship Scheme and April 2nd for regular Hajj Scheme. The government has announced that no balloting would take place for intending Hajj pilgrims this year as the number of applicants falls short of the quota made available to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s quota for Hajj 2023 is 179,210 pilgrims. It is to be highlighted that 50 percent quota had been reserved for Sponsorship Scheme which is a special facility given to Hajj pilgrims seeking foreign exchange from abroad in the specific dollar account of the religious affairs ministry.
For this year, the government had set Hajj expenses at Rs1.175 million per pilgrim, 68% more than the last year’s expenses which apparently became a reason for many of the Muslims to avoid performing the ritual amid sky rocketing inflation.
It is note worthy that this is the first time Saudi Arabia would be welcoming pilgrims in large numbers i.e around 2.3m after the pandemic restrictions have been lifted. Around one million people joined the 2022 Hajj season and only those in age bracket 18 to 65 who were fully vaccinated or immunised against the virus and did not suffer from chronic diseases were allowed to visit the kingdom.
