Pakistan to hold mandatory training for Hajj pilgrims on Thursday
Pakistan to hold mandatory training for Hajj pilgrims on Thursday/node/2627808/pakistan
Pakistan to hold mandatory training for Hajj pilgrims on Thursday
Selected Pakistani pilgrims attend the Hajj training workshop in Islamabad on January 23, 2025, ahead of the annual pilgrimage in June this year. (Photo courtesy: MORA/File)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religion ministry has announced that a mandatory training program for Hajj 2026 pilgrims will begin from Thursday, state media reported this week as Islamabad gears up for the annual Islamic pilgrimage.
The announcement was made by Dr. Syed Atta ur Rehman, the federal secretary of religious affairs, while he chaired a meeting of the Curriculum Committee for Hajj Training in Islamabad on Monday, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
“The day-long training will be mandatory for all intending pilgrims as per their schedule, which will be communicated to them through Pak Hajj mobile app, website and SMS,” Radio Pakistan said.
The state media said the ministry has made the training mandatory to make intending pilgrims aware of Hajj rituals and administrative matters.
“Experienced master trainers and scholars from the ministry and Hajj camps will provide training through multimedia,” it said.
Saudi Arabia allocated Pakistan a quota of 179,210 pilgrims earlier this year for Hajj 2026. Of these, around 118,000 seats have been allocated to the government scheme and the rest to private tour operators.
Under Pakistan’s Hajj scheme, the estimated cost of the government package ranges from Rs1,150,000 to Rs1,250,000 [$4,049.93 to $4,236], subject to final agreements with service providers.
QUETTA: A blast hit Jaffar Express and derailed four carriages of the passenger train in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province on Monday, officials said, with no casualties reported.
The blast occurred at the Abad railway station when the Peshawar-bound train was on its way to Sindh’s Sukkur city from Quetta, according to Pakistan Railways’ Quetta Division controller Muhammad Kashif.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, but passenger trains have often been targeted by Baloch separatist outfits in the restive Balochistan province that borders Sindh.
“Four bogies of the train were derailed due to the intensity of the explosion,” Kashif told Arab News. “No casualty was reported in the latest attack on passenger train.”
The Jaffar Express stands derailed near Abad Railway Station in Jacobabad following a blast on January 26, 2026. (AN Photo/Saadullah Akhtar)
Another railway employee, who was aboard the train and requested anonymity, said the train was heading toward Sukkur from Jacobabad when they heard the powerful explosion, which derailed power van among four bogies.
“A small piece of the railway track has been destroyed,” he said, adding that passengers were now standing outside the train and railway staffers were busy clearing the track.
In March last year, fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group had stormed Jaffar Express with hundreds of passengers on board and took them hostage. The military had rescued them after an hours-long operation that left 33 militants, 23 soldiers, three railway staff and five passengers dead.
The passenger train, which runs between Balochistan’s provincial capital of Quetta and Peshawar in the country’s northwest, had been targeted in at least four bomb attacks last year since the March hijacking, according to an Arab News tally.
The Jaffar Express stands derailed near Abad Railway Station in Jacobabad following a blast on January 26, 2026. (AN Photo/Saadullah Akhtar)
Pakistan Railways says it has beefed up security arrangements for passenger trains in the province and increased the number of paramilitary troops on Jaffar Express since the hijacking in March, but militants have continued to target them in the restive region.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s southwestern province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
