ISLAMABAD: The government has announced a major concession for inten­ding pilgrims as it has included the amount for animal sacrifice in the original Haj package.

This was announced by Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Senator Talha Mahmood at a press conference on Sunday.

Earlier on April 29, he announced that the first Haj flight would leave for Saudi Arabia on May 20-21.

At his Sunday presser, he said the ministry would bear the expenses of qurbani and the decision has been taken to provide relief to pilgrims who are already paying for the “most expensive Haj in history”. Accordingly, the pilgrims will not have to pay Rs57,000 extra for the animal sacrifice in Saudi Arabia.

Originally, the price of animal sacrifice was not included in the package under the government-sponsored scheme and pilgrims were directed to pay the amount separately.

Mr Mahmood also announced that the immigration of around 26,000 pilgrims, taking flights from the Islamabad Inter­national Airport, would be completed in Pakistan.

This was done as part of a deal agreed with Saudi authorities under the Road to Makkah project. He added that the facility was planned to be exten­ded to Lahore, Karachi and Multan airports, but due to time constraints, it couldn’t be done.

The number of pilgrims going for Haj on the government scheme is significantly low this year, forcing the government to shun balloting and send all the applicants on the pilgrimage.

This year’s quota was divided into two parts: regular and sponsored. The regular scheme was for pilgrims who would pay charges in rupees. The sponsorship scheme was for overseas Pakistanis or their relatives who would pay the amount in US dollars.

The ministry of religious affairs had allocated a 25 per cent quota for the sponsorship scheme which was later increased to 50pc.

Around 45,000 seats were allocated under this scheme devised in light of dwindling forex reserves. But, the scheme failed to achieve its objective as the number of applications was far lower than the quota. On the other hand, for around 44,190 seats under the regular scheme, the government received 72,869 applications. With seats available under the sponsored scheme, the government decided to accommodate regular pilgrims on the quota for the sponsored scheme.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2023