ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry has decided to allocate a 25 percent special quota in the official Hajj scheme for pilgrims paying in US dollars, reported the country’s state-owned news agency, while exempting them from the balloting process.
The development took place after the Saudi authorities restored Pakistan’s pre-pandemic Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims and abolished the upper age limit of 65 years.
The Hajj is an obligatory spiritual journey for adult Muslims with physical and financial means, requiring them to visit the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah at least once in their lifetime. It is also one of the five central pillars of the Islamic faith.
“The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has decided to allocate a 25 percent special quota in the Government Hajj Scheme for the pilgrims who will deposit dues in dollars,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said while citing official sources.
“The ministry also decided that the intending pilgrims, depositing dues in dollars, would be exempted from the balloting under the new Hajj policy.”
The report said the government also plans to introduce a “sponsorship scheme” this year in view of Pakistan’s critically low forex reserves which can only cover up to three weeks of controlled imports. It said that about 22,400 pilgrims would be able to benefit from the said scheme in 2023.
The APP reported the intending pilgrims would also be able to pay for their Hajj expenses in dollars through foreign remittances.
It said the finance ministry had already indicated it would not be able to arrange some $2 billion for the annual pilgrimage due to Pakistan’s financial woes.
“The religious ministry had increased the Hajj quota for private operators from 40 percent to 50 percent, which might be further raised in the wake of a persistent foreign exchange liquidity crunch,” the report continued, adding that each intending pilgrim would have to pay at least Rs1.1 million to the ministry under the government scheme.
However, the expense might even go up to Rs1.3 million in case of further depreciation of the rupee.
“The Saudi Government was also increasing the tax rate on Hajj by 18 to 20 percent,” the APP said.
