ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: The government on Monday announced the Haj policy for 2008.

Under the policy, 164,647 people will perform Haj this year – 85,000 under government sponsorship and 79,647 through private operators

The announcement was made after the Supreme Court issued a verdict on a petition after examining the policy submitted by the ministry of religious affairs.

Expenses for pilgrims departing from Quetta and Karachi have been raised to Rs185,000 from Rs130,750 and pilgrims from Islamabad, Lahore and other cities to Rs200,000 from Rs138,450.

The policy, however, does not say how much of the increase in expenses, including the Haj fare, will be borne by the government.

Some private group operators had filed the petition in the apex court a couple of months ago requesting it to ensure that the government did not give preference to new tour operators over those who had handled the Haj operation in 2007.

The court verdict provided relief to the operators because the government decided to allocate Haj quota to only those operators who were active last year.

A list of 591 private group operators has been approved by Saudi Arabia.

Haj applications on prescribed forms may be submitted along with a copy of NIC in selected branches of HBL, UBL, NBP, MCB and ABL between Aug 7 and 18. PIA will operate Haj flights from Nov 3 to Dec 13. Return flights will end by Jan 13, 2009.

Around 7,750 people will perform Haj under a quota scheme, which allocates 50 seats for the Senate chairman, National Assembly speaker, provincial governors and chief ministers, the prime minister and the president of Azad Kashmir and 10 seats each for the 342 MNAs and 100 Senators.

Names will be drawn by computerised ballot on receipt of applications in excess of the required number, excluding special quotas and people who could not be accommodated in the past two years. People having performed Haj more than five times will not be allowed to go.

The increase in expenses was attributed mainly to the sharp increase in price of petrol and house rents in Makkah.

Prime Minister’s Adviser on Religious Affairs Allama Hamid Saeed Kazmi said the total number of Haj pilgrims was worked out on the basis of 0.01 per cent of the population which was approved by the Saudi government.

He said that 500 seats had been fixed for labourers and an even number for overseas Pakistanis while expenses of 150 people will be paid by the Haj Foundation.

In reply to a question about possible action on complaints against some private Haj operators, he only said that the ministry would go by the list approved by the Saudi government.

The new Haj scheme also envisages sending 30,000 pilgrims directly to Medina who will be flown back via Jeddah. Another 30,000 will land in Jeddah and will be flown back from Medina to reduce the pilgrims’ travel fatigue.