ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Hajj Mission has been providing quality food to pilgrims under a government scheme with rigorous checks and oversight during the preparation and distribution processes, a senior official of the mission in Makkah said on Monday.
More than 38,000 Pakistani pilgrims have arrived in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah under the government scheme ahead of this year’s annual Hajj pilgrimage, according to the Pakistani Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Around 179,210 Pakistanis will perform Hajj under both the government and private schemes, for which a month-long flight operation began on May 9. This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14 till June 19.
“There is a total of nine catering companies employed to fulfill food demands of around 69,000 pilgrims under the government scheme,” Asghar Ali, the Pakistan Hajj Mission’s director for food, accommodation and transportation, told Arab News.
He said the mission had implemented a highly effective mechanism to ensure the food quality, with continuous oversight during the preparation of food and round-the-clock monitoring of kitchens by Pakistani volunteers.
“To ensure the quality of food, a kitchen coordinator is deployed and regular as well as periodic checks are conducted,” Ali said.

Even after preparation, the quality and quantity of food are rechecked upon arrival at residential buildings and hotels where the mission has arranged for the accommodation of pilgrims, according to the official.
The daily menu includes Pakistani and continental cuisines and the mission has kept the food timings flexible to avoid rush.
“There are currently three types of feedback mechanisms in use, including a digital app that has received 115 food-related complaints, all of which have been addressed promptly,” he said, adding that the complaints registered manually had also been addressed by officials.
“It is through personal feedback in which our coordinators personally ensure a meeting with pilgrims and take their opinion and record it for modification and change.”
In the event of violations, he said, penalties were imposed on catering companies without discrimination.
“There are a total of eight penalties enforced so far on the catering companies, most of them were imposed to improve the quality of food,” Ali added.

KARACHI: Police in Pakistan’s eastern city of Sargodha said on Monday that they had registered criminal cases against over 100 people for their involvement in last week’s mob attack against a Christian man and his family over allegations he had desecrated the Qur’an.
A frenzied mob went on a rampage on Saturday in Sargodha after locals said they saw burnt pages of the Qur’an outside the house of a Christian man. Angry protesters set his house on fire and his shoemaking factory, beating up his son as well.
Police said they rescued the Christian father and men after successfully dispersing the crowd following violent clashes. Sargodha Police District Police Officer Assad Malhi said several police officers were injured in the clashes. He said Sargodha Police’s prompt and effective actions “saved the city from a potential disaster, maintaining peace and harmony in the region.”
“Later during the day, criminal cases have been registered against the culprits and police has arrested more than 100 accused charging them with anti-terrorist and attempt to murder sections of law,” Malhi said.
Police said they were also probing the incident and focusing on determining the extent of the damage done as well as identifying those responsible.
“Sargodha police are working tirelessly to ensure that all aspects of the case are thoroughly examined and that justice is served,” Malhi said.
He said police were engaging with the local community to address the root cause of the issue. 
“The police are working closely with local community leaders and religious scholars to promote interfaith harmony and understanding,” Malhi said. 
In a separate post on social media platform X, police said on Monday morning that security had been beefed outside all important churches in Sargodha district following the incident. 
“Sargodha police have completed arrangements for the hyper security of churches across the district,” Sargodha Police wrote on social media platform X. It added that over 1,000 police officers and youths were performing duties at important churches in the district. 
Blasphemy accusations are common in Pakistan and under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. While no one has been executed on such charges, often just an accusation can cause riots and incite mobs to violence, lynching and killings.
The latest violence, however, brought back memories of one of the worst attacks on Christians in Pakistan in August 2023, when thousands of people set churches and homes of Christians on fire in Jaranwala, a district in Punjab province, also on allegations of desecration of the Qur’an.