RIYADH – The agreement regarding the facilitation of Hajj pilgrims titled ‘Road to Makkah’ would be renewed this week as Saudi Arabia’s deputy interior minister, Dr. Nasser bin Abdul Aziz Al-Dawood has arrived in Pakistan.
The visiting dignitary would renew the agreement which is aimed at facilitating Hajj pilgrims to complete visa procedures at the departing country’s airport instead of keeping them waiting for such formalities in Saudi Arabia.
The initiative is part of Saudi Arabia’s Guests of God Service Program, which King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud inaugurated in 2019 under Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030. The agreement is renewed every year with countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, and Bangladesh.
As per the initiative, Hajj pilgrims are issued visas and provided other services, such as baggage facilities, at their respective countries’ airports. Not only that, the pilgrims move directly to buses to take them to their places of residence in Makkah and Madina while their luggage is delivered to them.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah welcomed the Saudi dignitary at the Noor Khan air base on Tuesday. The minister is on a two-day visit to Pakistan during which he would also meet Prime Minster Shehbaz Sharif and other government officials including the Army Chief.
Last year, Pakistani pilgrims availed the facility of the Makkah Route initiative for the second consecutive year.
Pakistan’s quota for Hajj 2023 is 179,210 pilgrims. 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 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.
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.
As far as the flight operation is concerned, the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had announced that its pre-Hajj operation would begin on May 21 and continue till August 12 during which it would take 38,000 pilgrims to the Holy land.
PIA has announced to charge fares in US dollars for the second year in a row and fixed the fares for pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia under the private Hajj scheme from $870 to $1180 for the Southern region that includes Karachi, Quetta, Sukkur, Hyderabad.
It is noteworthy 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 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
