ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's religious affairs minister, Sardar Mohammad Yousaf, said on Tuesday the country has requested a higher Hajj quota in proportion to its population for the next year from Saudi Arabia, after early registrations for the pilgrimage reached 455,000 this month.
Pakistan's current Muslim population is approximately 230 million, according to the latest census cited by the minister.
He added the government had urged the Kingdom to raise the country’s Hajj quota from 179,210 to 230,000 in a formal letter, aiming to enable more citizens to perform the annual Islamic pilgrimage.
"A gazette notification has ... been issued regarding the population, so based on that population, our [Hajj] quota should be 230,000," Yousaf said during a news conference.
"For this, we've written to the Saudi government and demanded [an increase], and a letter has been sent [to them] by the Ministry of Religious Affairs," he continued. "We hope they will consider this [request] and adjust our quota in proportion to our population."
Yousaf highlighted that the registration of 455,000 intending pilgrims by the deadline reflected their strong eagerness to perform Hajj.
The government announced the initiation of next year’s Hajj process early, asking aspiring pilgrims to register themselves first.
No fee was required at the registration stage.
All registered applicants will now be able to choose between the government and private Hajj schemes.
A large portion of the private Hajj quota for 2025 remained unutilized due to delays by tour operators in meeting payment and registration deadlines, while the government fulfilled its full allocation of over 88,000 pilgrims.
Private operators attributed the shortfall to technical issues, including payment processing problems and communication breakdowns.
