ISLAMABAD – The government of Pakistan has extended the date for submission of passports by Hajj pilgrims in banks, it emerged on Sunday.
As per the fresh deadline, passport in respective branches can be submitted till April 28. The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has also advised the pilgrims to install and use the smartphone app, ‘Saudi Visa Bio’, for biometric verification, while staying at their homes.
In case of any difficulty, the intending Hajj pilgrims can visit nearest Gerry’s Visa Centre between 2pm to 6pm. The minister for Religious Affairs Senator Talha Mahmood is already in Saudi Arabia to review Hajj arrangements and hold meetings with the officials of Saudi Ministry of Religious Affairs.
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. In a rare event, the government has surrendered 10 percent quota to the government of Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan’s quota for Hajj 2023 was 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.
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.
“Pre Hajj operation will commence from 1st Zilqad till 4th Zilhajj, 1444 corresponding to Gregorian date 21st May till 22nd June 2023 (subject to moon sighting),” according to PIA Hajj circular.
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 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.
The government of Saudi Arabia is making every possible effort to ease and facilitate the pilgrims who would be landing in the kingdom hosting two of Islam’s holiest sites.
