Cabinet approves Hajj Policy 2018, decides not to increase Hajj dues

Minister for Religious Affairs is expected to hold a press briefing to highlight salient features of Hajj Policy

ISLAMABAD: The Hajj policy for 2018 was unveiled on Wednesday with the expenses retained at last year’s level and an increase in the quota for the government scheme.

The policy, which was approved by the federal cabinet recently, was announced by Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf at a press conference. He said the reason behind early announcement of the policy was to begin the Hajj preparations well in time in order to avoid any inconvenience for the pilgrims.

He said the expenses for Hajj through the government scheme had not been increased. The cost for pilgrims from Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is Rs280,000 and for Sindh and Balochistan Rs270,000.



The minister said 179,210 people from Pakistan would perform Hajj under the government and private schemes. The quota for the government scheme has been increased to 120,000. Of them, 10,000 slots have been allocated for people above 80 years of age and another 10,000 for those who could not succeed in balloting during the past three years. Balloting will be held if the number of applicants exceeds the allocated seats. The minister said 59,210 people would perform Hajj under the private scheme.

Anyone who has performed Hajj under the government scheme will not be eligible to apply.

The Hajj applications under the government scheme will be received from January 15 to 24 and balloting will be held on January 26. The applications can be obtained from the designated branches of banks and the charges deposited in Sharia accounts, the minister said.



While maintaining the past tradition, the minister claimed that no one would be allowed to perform Hajj for free under the government scheme. However, 2% seats would be filled on a hardship basis and 500 allocated to people with low income, labourers and those registered with the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution.

He said that following the approval of the Saudi government, half of the pilgrims would be directly taken to Madina, which would save time as well as money.

He said a decision to reduce the duration of Hajj stay to 30 days would be taken after consultation with all stakeholders.

Talking to The Express Tribune, an official said the ministry faced issues in arranging good accommodation, meals and transport for the pilgrims within the limited financial resources this year. “Almost every year there is an increase in the airfare, hotel and transport cost in Saudi Arabia, therefore it becomes difficult for the government to provide the best possible accommodation to the intending pilgrims,” he said. The official said several pilgrims faced difficulty in getting transport to Mina and accommodation close to Haram Sharif.