Daily Times

As there were far fewer applications than seats available, the federal government on Thursday declared that there would be no voting for the Hajj this year.

Ishaq Dar, the minister of finance, and Mufti Abdul Shakoor, the minister of religious affairs, announced that all Haj applications submitted through the government programme would be accepted without a ballot. Only 72,869 applications were received compared to a quota of 44,190, so this decision was made.

The government plans to accept all applications of intending pilgrims, and extra foreign exchange reserves for Hajj pilgrims will be provided with the support of the State Bank of Pakistan. The government has allocated around 45,000 seats under the sponsorship scheme, but only around 6,000 applications were received under this scheme, leaving around 10,000 seats vacant.

The country’s progress and prosperity are to be prayed for by the prospective pilgrims.

Pakistan joins the millions of Muslims from around the world who travel to Mecca each year to perform the Haj. Since many years ago, the Pakistani government has organised the Hajj under its official programme, and every year more people apply to perform the Hajj.

However, this year far fewer applications than anticipated were submitted for the government programme, leaving many seats open.

The cost of performing Haj has increased significantly in recent years, and many people cannot afford to perform Hajj under the government scheme.