Daily Times

Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Religious Affairs and Pakistani Diaspora in Middle East and Islamic Countries, Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi on Thursday announced that the private Hajj organizers would start booking for the Hajj 2024 from Friday, February 16, nationwide.

Addressing a press conference along with Hajj Organizers Association of Pakistan (HOAP) Chairman Jamal Khan Tarakai, Vice Chairman Haji Sanaullah and other representative, said the intending pilgrims within the country and abroad could grab this sacred opportunity till February 25.

Ashrafi who is also the chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council expressed optimism about the possibility of extending the application submission deadline by a month through private Hajj organizers’ platform. He revealed that Hajj quota allocated to the private Hajj organizers was 89,604 pilgrims, with fifty percent quota of 44,802 pilgrims is reserved for Sponsorship Hajj Scheme.

Ashrafi urged the government to provide all possible assistance to the intending Pakistani overseas pilgrims for smoothly remitting their funds in the local financial institutions. He proposed that it would be far better if they could be allowed to send their money into the private Hajj organizers’ accounts in Saudi Arabia through International Bank Accounts Numbers (IBAN). Ashrafi informed that the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony had established a dedicated helpline in collaboration with HOAP for further convenience of the pilgrims.

He expressed gratitude to the government of Pakistan and as well as Saudi Arabia for making state-of-the-art arrangements for the intending pilgrims in advance. Ashrafi said this year, due to the special efforts of Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir and Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, the cost of Hajj had been reduced due to controlling the dollar’s value in financial market.

He said HOAP had ensured to provide maximum ease and comfort to the pilgrims and furthermore, it had devised a self-accountability mechanism within the private Hajj organizers to address pilgrims’ grievances immediately and penalize the particular Hajj organizers for bad conduct with the affected pilgrims. Concluding his remarks, Ashrafi said, “Hajj is a religious obligation that every capable person must fulfill once in life.”