ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani ministry of religious affairs said on Friday it was extending the application deadline by one week for the ‘Sponsorship Hajj Scheme,’ a new scheme introduced this year in which overseas Pakistanis can apply for Hajj or sponsor someone in Pakistan to make the pilgrimage.
Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Mufti Abdul Shakoor, this month said the Sponsorship Hajj Scheme would help generate $194 million of the total $284 million required for the 2023 Hajj Operation. The scheme is considered important at a time when Pakistan is going through a severe dollar crunch.
“The decision to extend [the application deadline] was taken after difficulties in remittances to overseas Pakistanis,” a spokesperson for the religious affairs ministry said on Friday. “Overseas Pakistanis will be able to remit funds in Sponsorship Hajj Scheme until next week, April 9.”
The spokesperson said funds should be sent to the dollar account of the ministry through Telegraphic Transfer or wire transfer.
The receipt of applications in the regular Hajj scheme has also been extended till April 2, he added.
Last year, Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah, allowed back foreign travellers to perform the Hajj. Only a few thousand Saudi citizens and residents attended the annual pilgrimage in 2020 and 2021 as COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the global economy and curtailed travel.
Around one million people joined the 2022 Hajj season, less than half of pre-pandemic levels, with access restricted to pilgrims aged 18 to 65 who were fully vaccinated or immunised against the virus and did not suffer from chronic diseases.
