179,210 Pakistani pilgrims will do the Hajj this year, according to Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor, who also cited the high cost as a result of inflated costs in the kingdom and the weakening of the Pakistani rupee.
At a press conference to introduce the Hajj Policy 2023, the minister made the comments and mentioned that applications can be submitted from March 16 to March 31 at 14 authorized banks.
Hajj Cost and Balloting
The minister announced that the scheduled date of April 5 would be used for the pilgrimage ballot. “According to the financial breakup, the estimated cost of pilgrimage from the northern region (Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Sialkot) is Rs1,175,000, while for the Sponsorship Hajj Scheme (northern region) is approximately $4,325.”
According to him, the anticipated cost of the pilgrimage from the southern region (Karachi, Quetta, and Sukkur) was Rs. 1,165,000, while the cost of the southern region’s Sponsorship Hajj Plan was about $4,285.
The minister promised that any savings from the aforementioned pilgrimage package would be returned to pilgrims through the bank accounts they had provided, and he added that applicants for the Sponsorship Hajj Plan who lacked bank accounts would get cash payments instead.
He claimed that this time, global inflation had driven up the cost of facilities both in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. In addition, the Hajj package was significantly impacted by the decline in the value of the Pakistani rupee.
According to Abdul Shakoor, Pakistani pilgrims were not able to use the rail facilities previous year, but this year they were able to do so at Mina, Muzdalifah, and Arafat. He insisted that the pilgrims would be responsible for paying for this facility.
The Sponsorship Hajj Plan was implemented for abroad Pakistanis this year, the minister explained, and it would contribute to generating $194 million while the ministry required a total of $284 million.
He added that the remaining roughly $90 million had been promised by the Ministry of Finance to ensure the Hajj operation ran well.
Quota Assigned for People Who Wants to Perform Hajj
According to the quota, he said that 179,210 persons would undertake the pilgrimage this year, and he added that this quota would be split equally between the public and private pilgrimage schemes at a ratio of 50% each.
He added that the Sponsorship pilgrimage Program was given a 50% quota in both the public and private hajj programs, or 44,802 seats in each program.
According to him, the Sponsorship pilgrimage Scheme provided a special opportunity for Hajj pilgrims who needed foreign currency from overseas and were deposited into a particular dollar account maintained by the ministry.
“Overseas Pakistanis will be exempted from the balloting process due to the remittance of the allocated dollars in this account for themselves or their relatives in Pakistan. Deposit of dollars from Pakistan is not allowed,” he added.
According to Abdul Shakoor, the Sponsorship pilgrimage Program quota would be distributed on a “first come, first served” basis, which will be based on the time and date that the Hajj form is deposited in the bank.
After the allotted quota was reached, he continued, registration for the Sponsorship pilgrimage Scheme will be halted.
This year, he claimed, there was no higher age limit for pilgrims from Pakistan since Saudi Arabia had eliminated the 65-year restriction.
To read our blog on “Hajj fares announced by PIA for the year 2023,” click here.
