Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Some 13,000 recommended applications for Hardship Hajj Scheme from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat have been applied for. After differences surfaced between Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Yousaf and senior officers of the ministry over distribution of hardship quota of 1500 Hajis, a special committee has been formed under the instructions of prime minister to resolve the matter.

The committee is comprised of State Minister Pir Amin-ul Hasnat, Capt(Retd) Safdar, Secretary to Prime Minister Fawad Hussain Fawad and Secretary Religious Affairs Sohail Khan, whereas Federal Minister Sardar Yousaf went to London due to these state of affairs ,while leaving Hajj operation uncompleted.

The senior officers of the ministry are holding meetings on a daily basis to resolve the issue but they could not find any way out. In the meeting it was proposed to hold the draw on the applications but the PM’s Secretariat refused this suggestion and took the control of hardship quota in its hands. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued instructions that names recommended by the members of parliament should be accommodated at every cost. In this connection, Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif has called the state minister Amin-ul-Hasnat to Lahore.

The top officials of the ministry had floated a suggestion to finish the hardship quota before approval of Hajj policy and took the stance that the recommended applications for the quota had been received in large quantities that could defame the ministry, but State Minister Pir Amin-ul-Hasnat insisted to continue the quota, creating problems for Federal Minister Sardar Yousaf.

Some senior officers of ministry have shown reservations on the handing over of the authority to nominate on hardship quota to committee by taking it from Ministry of Religious Affairs. The officers are of the view that by doing this the PM’s Secretariat is trying to prove them incapable. The sources said that Federal Minster by handing over the hardship quota to Prime Minister ‘s Secretariat , saved himself from a big test.