ISLAMABAD – More than 83,000 Pakistani pilgrims will start returning home from Saudi Arabia on Thursday (July 14) after performing Hajj.
According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, the flight operation to bring the Pakistani Hajj pilgrims home would continue without any break till August 13.
The pilgrims would be welcomed by officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony and the Civil Aviation of Pakistan on arrival at different airports of the country. Every pilgrim will get a five litre sacred water can on arrival at the airport.
Saudi Arabia has been reluctant to allow local as well as foreign pilgrims to perform Hajj since outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019.
However, the Saudi government decided to allow a limited number of people from every country to perform Hajj this year.
All pilgrims selected to perform Hajj this year were under the age of 65 and were fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Saudi authorities had initially allocated a quota of 81,132 pilgrims for Pakistan but later allowed 2,000 more people from the South Asian nation to perform Hajj this year, taking the total number of pilgrims to 83,132.
