ISLAMABAD – The draw for the upcoming Hajj for those who have applied under the government Hajj scheme will be held today (Thursday).
Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith harmony, Aneeq Ahmed would conduct the draw at 4 P.M. after which the successful applicants would be informed accordingly.
The government had not extended the deadline for submission of applications under the regular Hajj scheme on December 22nd. The caretaker regime had however extended the application submission deadline for those applying under the Sponsorship Scheme till December 31st.
The government had announced that it had received over 66,000 applications under the regular Hajj scheme till last Friday, confirming that a draw would be held this year. The total number of seats allocated to Pakistan for the upcoming Hajj is around 180,000 but these include the seats allocated to the private Hajj operators also.
The government had initially set December 12th as the deadline which was extended till December 22nd. To attract the applicants, the government had also permitted those who had performed Hajj in the last 5 years to apply for the upcoming Hajj.
The authorities have introduced the Short Hajj package for the pilgrims while the Sponsorship Scheme is also valid for this year as well.
As far as the Long Hajj is concerned, it would encompass 38-42 days with 8 days stay in Medinah and those flying from the South region i.e. Karachi, and Sukkhur would have to pay Rs 10,65,000 while those from other cities i.e. Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Sialkot, Faisalabad would pay Rs 10,75,000.
For Sponsorship scheme applicants, the cost is $3765 for the South Region while it is $ 3800 for the North Region for those opting for the Long Hajj package.
For the Short Hajj package, the cost for regular Hajj applicants is Rs 11,40,000 for the South region while the cost is Rs 11,50,000 for the North region; the Hajj would continue for 20-25 days under this scheme.
For the Sponsorship Scheme, the cost for Short Hajj is $ 4015 USD for the South region and $ 4050 for North region.
The government had also sought the support of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to launch awareness campaigns to attract more and more applicants though the inflation in the country is visibly discouraging Muslims from applying for the spiritual journey.
