The Federal Minister of Religious Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, said Sunday that the government was actively trying to send as many pilgrims as he could for Haj, and added that 10,000 Pakistani more have been allowed to perform the pilgrimage in private.
In January, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Annual Haj agreement, under which 179,210 Pakistani pilgrims were able to perform Haj, with around 90,000 people making the pilgrimage under the government’s scheme.
However, a notification of the Ministry of Religious Affairs earlier this week said that only 23,620 pilgrims could make Haj in private, asking questions about the fate of the 67,000 remaining pilgrims in the air.
Talk about Geographical news The ‘Naya Pakistan’ program today, Yousaf said that the government was trying to make sure so many Pakistani pilgrims could perform Haj this year.
“We are trying to allow many of the 179,210 pilgrims to travel through Haj,” said the minister. “Of that number, 50 percent are under the government’s scheme, and their agreements are complete.
“With the permission of the Prime Minister, I went to Saudi Arabia and met his Minister of Haj. We discussed this issue and he said:” We had agreed all this in a meeting in December and we gave a timeline for the procedure. “We request that they extend the deadline for our pilgrims not to stay behind.”
Yousaf declared that after approaching the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ishaq give and ask him to talk to his Saudi counterpart, he allowed 10,000 additional Pakistani to make a haj in private.
When he was pressed on the subject, Yousaf said that this was not an exclusive problem of Pakistan.
“This has not happened only in Pakistan, it is also happening elsewhere,” he said. “In India, there are 52,000 pilgrims who want to go. People have stayed behind and are also trying to make sure they send as many pilgrims as they can for Haj.”
When asked if those pilgrims who cannot travel will be reimbursed, Yosaf said: “According to our HAJ policy, there are agreements with tour operators under which the procedure [for booking Haj] It took place.
“If the money has entered the system under that procedure, then it is registered and present,” said Yousaf, adding that it is their right to reimburse the pilgrims if they cannot perform the pilgrimage. “Each institution, each operator is responsible. That money is part of the registration,” he said.
Haj, one of the fundamental pillars of Islam, is carried out every year by millions of Muslims around the world. Pakistan receives one of the highest Haj quotas in Saudi Arabia.
