ISLAMABAD – The federal government is considering to send all the Hajj applicants to the holy land for performing the Islamic ritual this year without any balloting.
The record inflation and increase in the price of Hajj has resulted in lesser number of applicants, even below the quota of country prompting the authorities to consider all the applicants under regular government scheme and Sponsorship Scheme without the need for balloting.
Pakistan’s quota for Hajj 2023 is 179,210 pilgrims. This is the first time that the government of Saudi Arabia has restored the number of pilgrims to pre-Covid levels.
It is to be highlighted that 50 percent quota has 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.
The official figures regarding Haj applications are alarming as only 89,000 applications have been received so far under the regular and sponsorship scheme in different banks of the country. If the applicants fail to show interest in the Sponsorship scheme in next few days, the proposal to declare every applicant successful would be finalized.
The Sponsorship Scheme which apparently looked lucrative did not manage to attract sizeable number of pilgrims while the figures for regular applicants have also fallen this year.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Religious Affairs contacted the Ministry of Finance and asked additional $235 million to send pilgrims on Hajj and in case the funds are arranged, all pilgrims of the regular scheme could be sent to Hajj without balloting.
The Ministry has stated that if the required amount of dollars is not received, then balloting for the regular Hajj scheme would be held on Wednesday, Samaa News reported.
The Sponsorship Hajj Scheme was introduced to inject foreign currency into the dwindling foreign exchange reserves of the country under which it was announced that those who deposit money in foreign currency would not have to go through balloting.
It merits mentioning that this is the first time Saudi Arabia would be welcoming pilgrims in large numbers i.e around 2.3 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.
