ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday that Saudi Arabia had not taken a final decision to call off this year’s Hajj pilgrimage.
“Saudi Arabia has only told us not to finalize any Hajj-related agreement for the time being. They are monitoring and assessing the situation arising due to the coronavirus pandemic,” he said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday asked Pakistan not to sign any Hajj agreements related to the pilgrims’ accommodation and traveling due to the spread of coronavirus across the world.
In the letter sent to the religious affairs minister, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Dr. Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten said that the country should not make any such deal at this stage owing to the contagion.
The Saudi minister added that the Kingdom was continuously monitoring the situation, adding that it would inform as soon as there was any improvement.
“Yesterday, our religious affairs minister received a letter from the Saudi government in which they informed Pakistan that the Saudi authorities were assessing the situation regarding Hajj 2020 as the number of infected cases were on the rise across the globe, including the Kingdom,” Qureshi said.
Pakistan’s religious affairs minister, Noorul Haq Qadri, said on Thursday that his ministry was in touch with the Saudi Hajj and Umrah ministry regarding this year’s pilgrimage.
“A final decision will be taken by King Salman himself. The government has conveyed the Saudi message to all Hajj operators and put on hold arrangements for the time being,” Qadri said during a news briefing in Islamabad.
Imran Siddiqui, spokesperson for Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry, informed that the government had deferred all agreements with different companies in Saudi Arabia after receiving the letter from the Saudi authorities.
“We have stopped negotiating the agreements regarding Hajj 2020. The Saudi authorities have assured us that whatever they decide, they would consult all those countries that send large numbers of Hajj pilgrims every year, including Pakistan,” he told Arab News on Friday.
Siddiqui said it everything depended on the COVID-19 situation, adding it was not clear whether the Saudis would only allow locals to perform this year’s Hajj or also receive international pilgrims.
“If the situation improves and the Saudi government allows Pakistani pilgrims to perform Hajj this year in lesser numbers, we will conduct fresh balloting under the allowed quota,” the spokesperson said.
“If they allow limited number of people from all countries to perform Hajj, there will be strict screening of all pilgrims in their home countries as well as in Saudi Arabia which will be a big task,” Siddiqui said.