As per an agreement with the Saudi government, as many as 159,647 Pakistanis will perform Haj this year. The number of pilgrims under the Government Scheme would be 80,000 and those under the Haj Group Organizers (HGO) Scheme would be 79,647. “An additional quota of 10,353 has already been requested from the Saudi government,” said Bahrullah Hazarvi, director general for Haj at the Pakistani Haj mission in Makkah. He told the Saudi Gazette that this year the Saudi government will issue Haj visa only on Machine Readable International Passport (MRIP) valid for at least one year on the date of filing the Haj application. “No Haj application will be entertained if the applicant has performed Haj during the last five years except in three cases, Mahram of a lady who has not performed Haj earlier, Haj group leader or Haj-e-Badal,” Hazarvi said. “Ballots will be drawn if the applications have exceeded the number of seats available under the Government Scheme. There will be no special quota and the pilgrims will be selected purely through ballots under the Government Haj Scheme,” he added. The applicants who have been unlucky through the ballot for the last two years under the Government Scheme will be automatically selected without going through the ballot this year, he said. “Unlucky applicants of a Haj visit this year will be selected for next year's Haj if they choose not to withdraw their deposited Haj fees,” he said. “There will be only one category of accommodation for Haj this year in Makkah, because of an acute shortage of buildings in the vicinity of Haram due to ongoing expansion projects which have caused the demolition of buildings in the vicinity,” he said The Haj fees would be Rs.185,000 from Karachi/Quetta and Rs.200,000 from other stations. “After a deduction of compulsory Haj fees, accommodation and special services charges payable to Saudi agencies, the balance amount in foreign exchange would be provided in cash to intending pilgrims before their departure from Pakistan to meet day-to-day expenses in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
