Pilgrims told not to heed banks SMS on Hajj forms

Ministry tells public to ignore messages about forms availability prior to hajj policy

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs has issued notices to ten leading commercial banks of the country for asking their customers – through SMS – to collect hajj forms from their respective branches, prior to official announcement of the new Hajj policy.

“Banks cannot ask people to collect hajj forms from their branches prior to the announcement of Hajj policy. So far the government has not allowed the banks to officially do this,” said an official of the Ministry of Religious Affairs while talking to The Express Tribune.

The ministry is also cautioning people – through electronic and print media – to avoid trusting any kind of text message sent to them by any commercial bank regarding collection of hajj forms.



The official  said for the last few days several commercial banks are continuously sending SMS to their customers asking them to collect hajj forms from them ,which no doubt is creating panic among people.Islamabad

“People are rushing to banks to collect the forms. Long queues have been seen outside branches of various commercial banks,” he said. The official said currently the ministry is close to finalising the new hajj policy, which will soon be tabled before the cabinet committee for an approval.

“After being approved by the cabinet, it will be formally announced by the ministry. In the hajj policy, the ministry will clearly specify this year’s policy, total expense among other related things,” he added.



Moreover, he said, the ministry will also inform pilgrims – who will be travelling through official or private hajj schemes – through its official page on social media, its website and through print media.

“Therefore the Ministry of Religious Affairs requests all people not to collect hajj forms from the banks before announcement of the new hajj policy,” he said.