F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Noor-ul-Haq Qadri has said that government is making all out efforts for facilitation of Hajj pilgrims by providing them maximum facilities during their stay in the holy land.
Addressing a media awareness workshop jointly organized by Ministry of Religious Affairs and Hajj Organization of Pakistan (HOP) here on Wednesday, Federal Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said all the pilgrims will get proper Hajj training before their journey for the pilgrimage.
He also dispelled the impression that number of applications for performing Hajj is reduced due to hike in expenditure. Till now we have received 1,07,000 applications and more are in process for performing Hajj from official quota, he added.
Federal Religious Minister said the ratio of official-private Hajj is 60-40 and remaining will perform Hajj through private operators.
He also disclosed that a high level delegation of Saudi government is arriving in first week of April for holding talks for provision of `Road to Makkah’ facility at Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar Airports. Presently he said the facility is provided at Karachi airport where 28000 pilgrims will fulfill immigration, and customs checking process and have not to pass through same process after landing at airports in Saudi Arabia.
He said immigration and custom checking takes around eight to ten hours for pilgrims at Saudi Arabia and if agreement reached they all will not have to face long queues and botheration of waiting for long hours.
The Saudi government, he continued, has also provided for the first time e-visa facility to Pakistan. This facility is provided by Saudi government to only four countries and Pakistan if the fifth one.
The Saudi authorities have also pledged for giving accommodation to Pakistani pilgrims in the jurisdiction of Old Mina during Hajj days besides providing them fresh food instead of frozen, he disclosed.
Federal Minister said Ministry of Religious Affairs has also took special measures for protecting people from fraudsters who lure people in their trap by offering cheap Hajj.
He said a special SMS service has been launched (8331) through which the intending pilgrims can verify authenticity of Hajj group by sending its enrolment number on this number.
We have 798 registered private hajj group operators and people should only apply through these groups and don’t pay heed to offers by other groups, Qadari advised.
He said the Religious Affair Ministry has also developed five Apps for facilitation of Hujaj through which they can get all type of information from starting their journey till performing hajj besides learning Hajj specific supplications.
Noor-ul-Haq Qadari said Hajj is a very big event involving around 3.2 million pilgrims from around the globe and it is therefore responsibility of press to avoid sensational reporting during Hajj days.
He said media should also play its role in educating people about facilities being provided by government and private group operators for guidance of Hujjajs.
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs also made a clarification about provision of subsidy to Hujaj. He said previous government gave a subsidy of Rs. 43,000 per Haji in 2018 which was a single time subsidy used as a political ploy to win elections.
This year we inherited arrears of Rs. 43000 per Haji while devaluation of Pak rupee and some new taxes in Saudi Arabia caused this increase.
He also disclosed that Hajj Ministry is trying to make some saving on different expenditures of Hajj and if it succeeded in its effort, the saved amount would be returned to Hujaj.
The Media workshop was also addressed by Director Media of Religious Affairs Ministry, Imran Sehti, Zonal Chairman HOP, Kamran Zeb and former Chairman HOP, Sannaullah Khan.
A documentary was also screened on the occasion containing guidelines for pilgrims as how to perform Umra and Hajj besides clearance at airports and stay at hotels and Mina.
