ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will review the final number of applicants for this year’s Hajj under the official scheme, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday.
The decision was made at a meeting to discuss progress on the Hajj Scheme, which was presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and attended by Religious Affairs Minister Mufti Abdul Shakoor, Special Assistant to PM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha and other high-ups.
Secretary Religious Affairs briefed the meeting that 72,869 applications had been received in banks against the government’s regular scheme quota of 44,190, Pakistan’s state-run APP news agency reported.
“It was desired by the chair that complete and fully reconciled information regarding the final number of applications received under the Regular Scheme should be collected from the banks by Tuesday 4th April, 2023,” the report read.
“On receipt of complete information, the government shall review and decide the final number of intended applicants for Regular Hajj Scheme-2023.”
Dar stated that Hajj was a sacred religious obligation and the government shall facilitate the Hujjaj in every possible manner.
The religious affairs minister this month said the Hajj Scheme would help generate $194 million of the total $284 million required for the 2023 Hajj Operation. The scheme is considered important at a time when Pakistan is going through a severe dollar crunch.
Last year, Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites in Makkah and Madinah, allowed back foreign travelers to perform the Hajj. Only a few thousand Saudi citizens and residents attended the annual pilgrimage in 2020 and 2021 as COVID-19 wreaked havoc across the global economy and curtailed travel.
Around one million people joined the 2022 Hajj season, less than half of pre-pandemic levels, with access restricted to pilgrims aged 18 to 65 who were fully vaccinated or immunized against the virus and did not suffer from chronic diseases.
