The First Hajj flight from Pakistan would take off either from Islamabad or Quetta to Saudi Arabia on November 24, said Religious Affairs Ministry Secretary Vakil Ahmed Khan. He told reporters that this year 155,000 Pakistani pilgrims would perform Hajj. The ministry had received 151,000 Hajj applications against 75,000 seats under the Government Scheme and the required number of applications was accepted on merit. The secretary said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq made efforts and got approved another 5,000 seats from the Saudi Government thus extending the total quota up to 155,0000. "The decision on these additional seats had yet to be taken and a summary had also been sent to the Prime Minister in this regard," Khan said. The secretary said all arrangements such as preparation of passports, place of departure, flight seats and building allocation have been finalized, adding that all relevant departments including PIA, Saudi Airline, police, Customs, Boys Scouts and Immigration were in contact for collaboration. However, he said arrangements at Karachi would be somewhat delayed as PIA was unable to transport the required pilgrims to Jeddah because of non-availability of its jumbo aircraft from November 24 to December 5. In order to resolve the pilgrims transportation problems, a meeting of four airline companies -Gulf, Ittihad, Emirates, Egyptian and Jordanian - has been convened, Khan said. He said elaborate arrangements to facilitate the pilgrims at pilgrims camps as well as at holy cities of Makkah and Madina Munnawara have been made. "Our resource persons will brief in detail the pilgrims about Hajj rituals through various means including video slides," he added.
