ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Muhammad Talha Mehmood said the government was considering offering Hajj through ferry service and by road to provide maximum relief to the Pakistani pilgrims.
Addressing the convention of the All Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation in Islamabad, the Minister assured that the services in the next Hajj programme would be better and efforts would be made to minimize the expenses.
The minister affirmed that it was the first time that the Religious Affairs Ministry had returned an amount of 4.5 billion rupees to the Hajj pilgrims and it was in the process to return over two billion rupees more.
Although the minister has confirmed exploring options for Hajj through ferry and by road, the idea of ‘Hajj through ferry’ has been under discussion for quite a long period of time.
As Hajj prices skyrocket with each passing year, some think that the Ferry service might be an alternative for the pilgrims from Pakistan who land in the holy kingdom in large numbers.
The proposal also came under discussion before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs in May which had announced its verdict then.
The committee had declared the Maritime Affairs Ministry’s “Hajj through Sea” proposal “unfeasible” keeping in view the project’s ‘unaffordable financial cost and logistical challenges’.
The Hajj through sea proposal envisioned that the pilgrims could travel to the holy land by sea while aboard a ferry passing through different countries in the region.
In the NA panel’s meeting, the ministry shared the initial plan for the Hajj through sea initiative before the committee to deliberate upon the feasibility of the project.
The committee met under the chairmanship of Mir Amer Ali Khan Magsi and was of the view that the project was unfeasible, considering the financial cost, the time for transportation, and cases from other countries.
It bears mentioning that over 150,000 pilgrims from Pakistan perform Hajj every year through air travel – except during the pandemic era when the number dropped considerably.
Air travel is convenient but is an expensive travel route on top of the fact that the pilgrims from Pakistan are already cash-strapped, prompting some to deliberate upon the proposal of a ferry service.
For this year’s Hajj, Saudi Arabia had allocated a quota of 179,210 pilgrims to Pakistan. It is to be highlighted that 50 percent quota had been reserved for the 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 government had announced that no balloting would take place for intending Hajj pilgrims this year as the number of applicants fall short of the quota made available to Pakistan.
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 skyrocketing inflation.
It is noteworthy that this is the first time Saudi Arabia welcomed pilgrims in large numbers i.e around 2m after the pandemic restrictions were lifted. Around one million people joined the 2022 Hajj season and only those in the age bracket 18 to 65 who were fully vaccinated or immunized against the virus and did not suffer from chronic diseases were allowed to visit the kingdom.
