KARACHI (APP): Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Sardar Muhammad Yousuf on Friday informed that vaccination process of intending Hujjaj (pilgrims) would start next week and various centres have been established in major cities of the country for the purpose including Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur in Sindh.
While addressing intending pilgrims and talking to media persons during visit of Bait-ul-Hujjaj Karachi, he informed that training process of the intending Hujjaj was in final stages that was carried out in phased manner across the country to equip them with basic knowledge about the entire process of Hajj including Arkan-e-Hajj (obligatory acts of Hajj) as well as legal or formal requirements, use of Nusuk and other relevant matters.
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Sardar Yousuf said that more than 110,000 intending pilgrims would travel to holy lands for performing Hajj 2025. Among them, 89,000 will travel under the government scheme while 23000 Hujjaj will make their journey through private Hajj operator scheme, he told.
He informed that over 21,000 Pakistanis would fly from Karachi airport that has been embedded in the Road to Makkah initiative of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia allowing hassle free immigration process at Saudi airports.
The Road to Makkah facility is currently available in two cities of the country- Islamabad and Karachi and the government was striving for expansion of the facility to Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar and other major cities of Pakistan, he added.
The federal minister said Saudi government has further improved the overall Hajj arrangements and also introduced NUSUK and other new initiatives while the government of Pakistan made the best arrangements as well to facilitate the pilgrims this year which included quality residence near the Haramain Sharifain, round the clock transport, air conditioned tents and other facilities.
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For the convenience of pilgrims, quality residential facilities have been arranged at the minimum possible distance in the Markazia area of Madinah and Batha Quraish, Azizia and other central areas of Makkah Mukarama, he said and added that staff of the ministry and Muavneen would be available for assistance of pilgrims there.
Under the guidance of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the ministry is making all out efforts to ensure maxim facilitation of pilgrims so that they could perform Hajj- one of the essential religious obligations in Islam- with comfort and peace of mind, he stated.
He assured every possible facilitation and assistance to the intending pilgrims and requested them to pray for peace, progress, stability and prosperity of the country and particularly for gallant sons of the nation who sacrificed their lives in defence of the motherland.
Responding to a query about the issue of private Hajj tour operators, the minister informed that due to non-compliance of Saudi Hajj policies over 300,000 intending pilgrims from different countries including Pakistan were facing problems.
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The government has taken the issue with the Saudi Hajj ministry and 10,000 cases from Pakistan got clearance, he informed and added that some Hajj tour operators failed to fulfil the requirement and commitments with Saudi authorities and business partners within the committed time despite repeated directives by the religious affairs ministry.
It is regrettable that a significant portion of Pakistan’ quota could not be availed due to negligence of tour operators, he said and stressed on stringent action against the persons or companies found negligent, he added.