Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Minister for Religious Affairs, Sardar Yusuf has said that consultations will be made with the religious scholars (Ulema) of KP including Mufti Shahabud Din Popalzai for starting the holy month of Ramadan and celebration of Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Azha on the same day across the country.

In his press briefing at his office here he said that the government was forging a consultation process with the ulema for fostering religious harmony and eliminating sectarianism from the country. A council representing the ulema from all schools of thought has been set up. Efforts have been started to bridge the division and disharmony which has surfaced during the last two years with reference to Ramadan and both Eids.

Today a meeting will be held by KP Auqaf minister and others with Mufti Shahabud Din Popalzai, the chief cleric of Masjid Qasim Ali Khan and other Ulema in Peshawar to sort out the problems.

He held that the people had expressed full confidence on the Hajj operation by the government adding that Hajj applications had been received three fold more than the Hajj quota of this year. The government had increased the Hajj quota but this quota had been decreased to 50 per cent in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision.

He indicated that the government had increased the facilities for the intending pilgrims under its Hajj quota. Directives had been issued to private tour operators to provide Hajj packages. However, so far, they had not provided the details of their Hajj packages to the ministry of religious affairs.

He underlined that a special committee would perform its duty in Saudi Arabia on the eve of Hajj this year in connection with the problems of the pilgrims. It will oversee private and government Hajj operations.

He also stated that no contact had been made with the Saudi government in connection with the increase in Hajj quota for Pakistan so far. However informal talks had been held with the Saudi ambassador in Pakistan.

Likewise the Pakistan ambassador in Saudi Arabia had also made contacts with Saudi authorities on this matter. However no final decision has been taken on this count.

He observed that the efforts of the ministry for religious affairs on implementation of uniform Nizam-e-Salaat in the country had proved productive and fruitful. The committee constituted in this regard had evolved a uniform Nizam-e-Salaat calendar which would be implemented in phases after consultation with the ulema of all the provinces, he added.