Over 300,000 hajj applications to go through balloting on Friday

Preference will be given to people performing hajj for the first time and those who performed it seven years ago

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs, Interfaith and Harmony announced, on Thursday, that for the first time, it has successfully received more than 300,000 hajj applications under the government’s Hajj scheme 2017.

The total number of applications received this year stood at 338,682 out of which 107,216 will be selected to perform hajj this year, a senior official at the ministry told The Express Tribune.

Last year, the ministry received 281,000 hajj applications while only 71,000 were recognised.



Yesterday (April 26) was the last day that designated branches of 10 particular banks accepted hajj applications across the country. From April 17 to April 26, banks received over Rs90 billion, the official added.

According to data shared by the ministry, Habib Bank Limited received 77,475 – the highest number of hajj applications this year. Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) received 73,221, United Bank Limited (UBL) received 46,633, Meezan Bank Limited received 45,494 and Allied Bank Limited received 33,211 hajj applications.

Meanwhile, National Bank of Pakistan received 29,799, Zarai Taraqiati Bank (ZTB) Limited received 9,967, Bank Al Falah received 7,618 and Habib Metropolitan Bank received 6,847 hajj applications.

The maximum number of hajj applications, 155,814, were submitted in the province of Punjab. However, some 72,934 applications were submitted in Sindh, 69,799 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 16,116 in Balochistan, 10,333 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 6,000 in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), 5,084 in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and 2,622 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

On April 28, successful applicants, for this year’s annual pilgrimage, will be selected through a ballot.

Interestingly, the religious ministry received hajj applications on its own fixed rates despite the PM’s orders to reduce them by Rs10,000.

The ministry said the hajj package for people travelling from the northern side of the country was worth Rs280,000. While for those travelling from the southern region including Karachi, Quetta and Sukkur, it was Rs270,000, it added.

During an upcoming federal cabinet meeting, scheduled in the first week of May, the ministry of religious affairs is expected to brief the premier over the issue of increased hajj expenses.

“If the ministry fails to satisfy the prime minister on the issue then the extra amount will be refunded to hajj applicants and rates will be fixed as per PM’s orders,” claimed the official.

The ministry official also insisted that “preference will be given to people going for the first time to perform hajj this year and who performed hajj seven years ago.”

The online hajj application submission process was upgraded and strengthened this year to avoid human errors while ensuring transparency at the same time.

“A mechanism was devised this year, with the help of which, the application of a person, who had performed hajj in 2010 and onwards, was rejected automatically during its online submission at banks,” the official explained.



This year it was also mandatory – both for the applicant and the receiver at the bank – to sign a computerised printed receipt when an application was submitted, the official continued while highlighting measures taken by the government.

Once a hajj application went through the submission and verification processes, it was uploaded on the official website of the ministry of religious affairs so that the applicant could also get a confirmation and could later track the progress of his/her application, the official said.

Millions of Muslims from around the world go to the Saudi Arabian city of Makkah for the annual hajj pilgrimage, a central pillar of Islam that re-enacts the actions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from over 1,400 years ago.

On April 12, the federal cabinet approved the Hajj Policy 2017 that would allow approximately 179,210 applicants from Pakistan to perform hajj this year after an agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia for an enhanced quota. In the past, Pakistan’s hajj quota was fixed at 143,368 applicants. The quota was reduced in 2013 due to expansion work being done in the grand mosque.