On Thursday, Senator Talha Mahmood, Pakistan’s minister of religion, and Nawaf bin Said-Al Malki, the Saudi ambassador to Pakistan, launched the Makkah Route Initiative at the Islamabad International Airport, making it easier for the more than 26,000 Pakistani pilgrims expected this year to go through immigration.
This comes just one day after Saudi Arabia’s deputy interior minister, Dr Nasser bin Abdul Aziz Al-Dawood, and Pakistan’s interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, signed an agreement formalising the Makkah Route Initiative in Islamabad. The Saudi minister met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his two-day stay in Pakistan’s capital.
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud launched the Guests of God Service Programme in 2019 as part of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to diversify the economy. This included the Makkah Route Initiative. The plan calls for Hajj visitors to clear immigration at their home countries’ airports.
Mahmood told reporters following the project’s inauguration, “This small territory of Islamabad airport has been declared Saudi territory for the Route to Makkah project.”
Makkah Route Initiative is very helpful
The Makkah Route Initiative was used by sixteen thousand Pakistani pilgrims last year. But more than 26 thousand Pakistani pilgrims will use it this year.
According to the plan, “pilgrims will be able to bypass the immigration process in Saudi Arabia and go straight to their residences after flying there,” he explained.
Mahmood further mentioned that the Saudis have built up a cutting-edge system at Islamabad Airport to speed up the immigration procedure for pilgrims.
This year, both men and women from Saudi Arabia’s personnel travelled to Pakistan to work on the project. So the women workers will handle the female pilgrims,” he clarified.
The deputy interior minister of Saudi Arabia, according to Mahmood, has vowed to expand the Makkah Route Initiative to include two or three additional cities in Pakistan in addition to Islamabad in the coming year.
He went on to say, “Those included Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar airports as they [Saudis] need time as a lot of preparation, including equipment and manpower, is required for each airport.
He stated that around 80,000 people were using the government’s scheme to make the spiritual pilgrimage, while the government permitted the private sector a quota of roughly 90,000.
According to Mahmood, the government is working hard to reduce the cost of Hajj to below Rs1 million ($3,500), and he expressed gratitude to the Saudi embassy in Islamabad for easing the preparations for the journey.
We did everything we could to keep the cost of the Hajj down from the $5,000 it cost us last year, down to under $4,000, he said. However, when converted to rupees, it appears to be greater than it was last year because of the rupee’s decline in value.
Mahmood assured pilgrims that the ministry would reimburse their $720 if they choose to secure their own sacrifice animals.
“I am also trying to return some of the saved cash from the estimated amount, which will be returned to pilgrims after the Hajj,” he said.
Mahmood has announced that on May 21 at 4:50 p.m., the first Hajj flight will take off from the port city of Karachi in southern Pakistan and land in Madinah.
The Saudi envoy stated that beginning in 2019, the Saudi Arabian government will make every effort to ensure that Hajj pilgrims from Pakistan have access to the greatest possible facilities at airports outside of Saudi Arabia.
King Salman bin Abdulaziz issued the directive for the Makkah Route effort, which was carried out under the supervision of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. “Next year this initiative will be expanded to Lahore and Karachi,” he said.
He claimed that everything was ready to go for operations to begin at the Islamabad airport, down to the last detail.
“The first flight under the initiative will begin on May 21 and our goal is to facilitate between 26,000 and 30,000 pilgrims this year,” he added.
To read our article about “First Hajj flights will be taken off from May 21st, MoRA” click here.