ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government has been mulling launching road and ferry services for local pilgrims to go to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, the Pakistani state media reported on Friday, citing the country’s religious affairs minister.
The statement by Talha Mahmood came at a convention of the All-Pakistan Newspapers Employees Confederation in Islamabad, where he said Pakistan would provide better services to pilgrims and make efforts to minimize expenses for the annual pilgrimage in 2024.
He said the religious affairs ministry for the first time this year returned Rs4.5 billion ($16.6 million) to the Pakistani Hajj pilgrims and was in the process of returning another more than Rs2 billion ($7.3 million), the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“Hajj through ferry service and by road is under the government’s consideration to provide maximum relief to the Pakistani pilgrims,” Mahmood was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
Hajj is an obligatory religious ritual for adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of carrying it out. It involves visiting the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah at least once in a lifetime and takes place during the last month of the lunar Islamic calendar called Dhu Al-Hijjah.
This year’s Hajj concluded late last month with around 2 million pilgrims gathering in the Kingdom to perform the annual pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia this year reinstated Pakistan’s pre-pandemic Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims and scrapped the upper age limit of 65 in January. About 80,000 Pakistani pilgrims performed the pilgrimage under the government scheme, while the rest were facilitated by private tour operators.
