ISLAMABAD: Saudi authorities have launched a health awareness campaign in several languages, including Urdu, for pilgrims arriving in the Kingdom for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Pakistani state media reported on Friday.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and requires every adult Muslim to undertake the journey to the holy Islamic sites in Makkah at least once in their lifetime if they are financially and physically able.
This year, around 179,210 Pakistani pilgrims are expected to perform the pilgrimage, of which around 70,000 people will undertake the journey under the government scheme, while the rest will use private tour operators.
The health awareness campaign for Hajj pilgrims is being carried out at key locations in the Kingdom through dozens of screens, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“The campaign is being carried out through 97 smart display screens at various locations including Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, the Haramain High Speed Railway Station, shuttle buses, pilgrim reception centers, malls and the health cluster’s facilities,” the report read.
“Messages cover issues such as the dangers of direct sun exposure, heat exhaustion, dehydration, food poisoning, first aid, personal hygiene and other health topics.”
More than 42,000 Pakistani pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia and around 390 assistants, including Pakistani civil and uniformed officers, are currently working for their travel and accommodation as well as for providing quality food to the pilgrims, according to the Pakistani religion ministry.
Over 150 officers of the religious affairs ministry are facilitating pilgrims at the Main Control Office, Madinah and Jeddah Airports, Lost and Found Department, Madinah Departure Cell, Monitoring Cell, and Accounts and Administration Departments.
This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14 till June 19.

ISLAMABAD: Unusually high temperatures in Pakistan’s northern areas have resulted in rapid melting of glaciers, officials and experts said on Friday, warning that the prolonged phenomenon could lead to water shortages and threaten lives in the longer run.
The South Asian country of 241 million is home to more than 7,253 known glaciers, and contains more glacial ice than any other country on earth outside the polar regions. Almost all these glaciers lie in the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The glaciers are an essential source and provide around 70 percent of fresh water for Pakistan that flows into the rivers, supplying drinking water to humans, ecological habitats and for agricultural activity, and even powers electricity, according to the Green Network. But recent heatwaves and above normal temperatures are causing the snow to melt faster.
“The glaciers are our water bank and a lifeline for the whole country, but the high temperatures and climate change are resulting in their fast melting,” Dr. Zaheer Ahmed Babar, a director at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told Arab News.
“The ratio of snow melting and subsequent water flow in the rivers are comparatively high as temperatures in the northern regions have recorded an increase of four to five degrees Celsius this month. In the longer run, if the phenomenon of high temperatures persists in the northern regions, our snow accumulation on the glaciers may lead to depletion and cause water shortages across Pakistan.”
Pakistan is currently witnessing a heatwave, with temperatures this week soaring above 52 degrees Celsius in the country’s southern regions, according to the PMD.
Babar said extreme weather patterns in Pakistan were getting prolonged with the passage of time, resulting in floods, heatwaves and a rise in seawater level, adding that the mercury was expected to drop after June 15 with the advent of the pre-monsoon rains.
Following an increased waterflow in rivers this month, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has increased the share of water for all provinces, bridging shortages for drinking and agriculture purposes.
“There are no water shortages now as we have been providing water to all the provinces as per their actual demand,” Khalid Idrees Rana, an operations director at IRSA, told Arab News.
“Our rivers are swelling at the moment due to the increased waterflow from the melting glaciers. The unusual high temperatures in the area are resulting in increased waterflow.”
Rana said the authority was providing 140,000 cusecs each to Punjab and Sindh provinces, 11,000 cusecs to Balochistan and 3,000 cusecs to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“The increased waterflows in rivers are good for agriculture in the short term, but this could be dangerous in the longer term as we need a sustainable supply of water from our glaciers the whole year,” he said.
Experts have linked the increase in melting of glaciers to adverse impacts of climate change and called on people to adapt to sustainable use of water, especially in the agriculture sector, to conserve the precious resource.
“The fast glacier-melting is obviously the climate change phenomenon, and Pakistan needs to mobilize a global effort to mitigate its impacts through reduction in carbon emissions,” Dr. Qamar Zaman, a lead author of Pakistan’s national climate change policy, told Arab News.
“We need to ensure sustainable use of water by discouraging flood irrigation as the swift glaciers melting could affect regular water availability in the country.”