ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has established two control rooms, one each in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah to facilitate Hajj pilgrims, the religion ministry confirmed on Wednesday, as thousands of Pakistanis continue to arrive in Saudi Arabia ahead of the annual Islamic pilgrimage. 
Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) has confirmed that around 15,819 pilgrims from the country have arrived in Saudi Arabia weeks before the Hajj begins. 
This year, 179,210 Pakistanis will perform Hajj under government and private schemes. Pakistan kicked off a month-long flight operation last week. Five airlines— PIA, Saudi Airlines, Airblue, Serene Air, and Air Sial— will operate 259 flights from eight major Pakistani cities to Jeddah and Madinah till June 9.
The government intends to facilitate thousands of Pakistani pilgrims through Hajj control rooms to ensure their pilgrimage remains free from hassles.
“We have established two control rooms: a main control room in Makkah and a branch office in Madinah to facilitate the pilgrims,” Muhammad Umer Butt, a religious affairs ministry spokesperson, told Arab News via phone from Madinah.
He said both control rooms in Makkah and Madinah would facilitate pilgrims 24 hours throughout the day. 
“All pilgrims are provided with a card they wear for identification, and on the back of each card, the control room numbers are listed so they can contact the control room by phone in case of any emergency or complain,” Butt explained. 
He said this year Pakistan has followed the Saudi government’s lead in digitizing Hajj through the Pak Hajj mobile application. Butt said the app provides all necessary information, including the ability to lodge complaints and track their status. 
“We have a live dashboard established in the control room under the complaint management system which showed all the details of complaints received and solved, movement of the pilgrims and other general queries,” he shared.
During the last seven days, the spokesperson said 195 complaints received through the Pak Hajj mobile app have been resolved, and 25 pilgrims who lost their way to their respective destinations in the holy cities were guided.
He added that the Loss and Found department located 111 bags and seven wheelchairs which were handed over to their owners. 
Butt said as Pakistani Hajj pilgrims were currently arriving in Madinah, the control room there was more active compared to the one in Makkah and was staffed with 54 personnel, and 18 Hajj assistants (Muaveneen). 
“These pilgrims will go to Makkah from May 17 after their eight-day stay in Madinah,” he said.
Butt said the Makkah control room was staffed with only eight people as Pakistani pilgrims have not started to arrive in the holy city yet.
“Along with this all adviseries issued by the Saudi government and Pakistani Hajj mission are also uploaded on the application through these control rooms,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday condemned the attack on Robert Fico, his Slovakian counterpart who was shot multiple times while coming out of a government meeting, saying he was praying for the leader of the central European state.
Fico was rushed to a hospital after the gun attack on Wednesday where he fought for his life in what was described by his administration as a “political assault.”
Speaking to the media after Fico’s surgery, Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba said the medical procedure had gone well and the 59-year-old Slovakian leader was expected to survive the assassination attempt.
“Strongly condemn shocking attack on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico,” the Pakistani PM said in a social media post. “Our thoughts and prayers with him and his family. Wish him quick recovery and good health.”
“We stand by government and people of Slovak Republic in these critical moments,” he added.
Fico’s party won the last general election in the European state held in September 2023.
The Slovak leader is a four-time prime minister and political veteran who has been criticized by his rivals for swaying his country’s foreign policy in Russia’s favor.
The gun attack was described as unprecedented, with analysts pointing out there had been no such previous incident reported against any minister or prime minister in Slovakia.