New Hajj policy to offer shorter stays in holy land

Minister tells Senate panel Karachi will be added to Road to Makkah project next year

ISLAMABAD:

The religious affairs ministry planned to introduce a shorter duration of Hajj journey in the new policy, which would soon be presented before the caretaker federal cabinet for approval, Religious Affairs Minister Aneeq Ahmed told a Senate panel on Monday.

During a meeting of the Standing Committee on Religious Affairs, the minister said that the Saudi Arabian government had decided that only 46 companies would conduct the Hajj operations from Pakistan, adding that the government could not do much about it.

Committee member Maulana Abdul Karim told the meeting that there would be problems if the operations of 905 companies were reduced to 46 companies.

Minister Ahmed replied: “We cannot do much about it, but we can request for a leniency for one year.”

Maulana Faiz Muhammad, also a committee member, suggested that the new plan should be implemented from next year, adding that “we have to solve the problem” by talking to the Saudi Arabian authorities.

The minister said that he had asked the Saudi Arabian authorities to review the decision, but they did not agree.

He added that a letter could be written to the Saudi Arabian government to inform it that there could be some difficulties in implementing the decision because it had been taken suddenly.

Read also: Pilgrims to get improved services during Hajj: minister

Ahmed said that the Saudi Arabian government was planning to increase the number of pilgrims to 10 million. He also said that currently, the Road to Makkah project was running only from Islamabad but the Saudi Arabian government had decided to include Karachi in the project during the next Hajj.

Ahmed informed the committee that the Hajj Policy 2024 would be presented to the cabinet for approval soon.

He said that there was a proposal to reduce the duration of the Hajj journey from 45 days to 18-20 days from next year.

The minister informed the committee that the government would try to ensure that the Hajj expenses of the short duration remained equal to that of the regular duration.

He said that it would be up to the pilgrims, whether they choose to stay long or less in Saudi Arabia.

The regular Hajj package usually consisted of 35 to 50 days, which included the cost of accommodation, hotel, food and transportation. The committee chair suggested the shorter duration should spread over 30 days. The minister replied that the suggestion would be considered.

Dilating further on the new Hajj scheme, the minister said that every pilgrim would be given two suitcases, adding that the suitcases could be located through the QR codes in case of losing them. He also said that the government would provide mobile SIM for 45 days which would be used for video calls.