Daily Times

The opposition senators on Friday termed increase in Hajj expenditure a ‘drone attack on pilgrims’, while the government claimed that 70 per cent of the Hajj expenditures are incurred in Saudi Arabia and it had no control over those.

Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Khan moved a calling attention notice in the Upper House over the government’s decision to not grant a subsidy to pilgrims in the Hajj Policy 2019. “The government had claimed that ‘State of Madina’ will be established but its first Hajj policy is disappointing. The highest number of pilgrims who go for Hajj and umrah are from Pakistan,” the JI senator said. “Hajj also has become a victim of the tsunami of inflation,” he added.

“Those who claimed to make a ‘State of Madina’ are stopping people from going to Makkah and Madina,” the senator lamented. “Under the new expenditures, it will become almost impossible for the middle and lower middle people to perform Hajj,” he regretted.

During the session, Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani directed Finance Minister Asad Umer to offer subsidy for the holy pilgrimage as the incumbent government assured to reconsider the policy for decreasing the Hajj expenses.

Explaining the government’s position on the matter, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Muhammad Khan revealed that the government paid 70 per cent of Hajj expenses in advance to the Saudi government which had enhanced travel, boarding and lodging expenses. The minister said the government was making efforts to provide maximum relief to intending pilgrims in meeting Hajj expenses. He said recent hike in hajj expenses was a result of increased expenditure in Saudi Arabia which was beyond control of the Pakistani government.

He said this year the rent of the buildings was increased from Rs 60,900 to Rs 94,185. The cost of transportation increased from Rs 9,000 to Rs 13,104; food charges from Rs 23,000 to Rs 38,000; Madina accommodation from Rs 23,200 to Rs 40,000; train charges from Rs 7,250 to Rs 20,000; Qurbani from Rs 13,050 to Rs 19,451 and the cost of air travel has gone up by Rs 17,000.

He said devaluation of Pakistani rupee has also caused surge in Hajj expenses. The compulsory hajj charges have gone up from Rs 31,813 to Rs 70,000; expenditure at Mushair from Rs 25,520 to Rs 42,000; luggage charges from Rs 580 to Rs 819, while arrival snacks presented to pilgrims at airports, express service at airport and Zamzam charges each increased from Rs 290 to Rs 409, he said.

Minister for Finance Asad Umar said that all efforts were being made to improve the economy. He criticised the opposition for taking hits at him for what he called ‘point scoring’ and for not being in the House when he is present to reply to their queries and critiques.

Earlier, the opposition senators staged a walkout from the House to protest against the absence of ministers and the government’s failure to table the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council Bill in Senate.

Meanwhile, the House adopted recommendation of Senate Standing Committee on Finance over money bill and forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration. Federal Minister for Finance Asad Umar said that the Senate always sent well-considered recommendations and the government would try to accommodate those.

The House was later prorogued due to lack of quorum.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif condemned the government’s decision to abolish subsidy on Hajj and said the opposition would raise the matter in the National Assembly and seek a reply from the government.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader said the government claimed to be aspiring to set up the ‘State of Madina’ but had instead made it difficult for the people to make the journey to Makkah and Madina. “The government has given the most expensive Hajj of the country’s history to the people. It seems they are seeing Hajj not as an act of worship but as a source of income,” he said. “The government needs to understand that Hajj is not a way to earn money,” he said, adding that it should facilitate intending pilgrims to visit the House of Allah instead of creating difficulties for them.

“PTI’s cabinet is the first ever not to subsidise Hajj in some way,” the former Punjab chief minister said, as he questioned why the benefits of reduced oil prices were not transferred to the intending pilgrims. Shehbaz pointed out that the PML-N government had prevented Hajj expenditures from increasing and had made the best arrangements for Hajj last year in order to facilitate the pilgrims.

Published in Daily Times, February 2^nd 2019.