Pilgrims in limbo

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There is a professional goof at work while dealing with the Haj operations. The fear that around 67,000 aspiring pilgrims will be denied their right to go on Hajj is quite worrisome. It is perhaps owing to a system error that Pakistani authorities could not figure out in real time while interacting with the Saudi portal. This could also lead to forfeit a quota of over 77,000 due to non-compliance with the Saudi regulations.

It seems such back-end errors and protocol deviations are becoming common year after year as Pakistan experiences a parallel system of Haj quota. This year 179,210 pilgrims were due from Pakistan, divided equally between the public and private sectors, but the fortune of only 23,000 is confirmed, leaving behind the rest in a state of limbo.

The input that the system has excluded 13,000 applicants makes it horrendous. The apathy, however, is that 2.67 billion Saudi riyals, the money collected from the pilgrims, has already been transferred to the Kingdom, but the operators were clueless in ensuring that other aspects were completed in due time. This calls for revamping of the entire system at work underway with the Ministry of Religious Affairs in tandem with shaky collaborations and private travel agents.

It is a given that commoners who save for years to go on the holy voyage are made to suffer at the expense of corruption and inexperience of those at the helm. There are many cases in the previous years too wherein pilgrims were on their own in the holy lands, and the promised facilities were nowhere to be seen.

While the issue at hand can only be rectified with the benevolence of the Saudi authorities, as they exhibit their largesse for Pakistan, it calls for an investigation too as to why such a lapse occurred.

Moreover, it's high time a new protocol was devised for Haj among the private and public sector in Pakistan, and the cost of the holy journey was made realistic in essence. Fleecing the pilgrims on the counts of airline, accommodation and surcharges must come to an end.