Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Member of Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony on Monday proposed that the number of private hajj operators may increase to 100 while the Saudi government has asked to keep this number as 46. While the existing number of private hajj operators are 905 currently. The Saudi government has sent a letter to the government of Pakistan and suggested to reduce the number of private hajj operator to 46 from current 905. These observations were made during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony, which was today at Parliament House, while Senator Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri was on Chair.
The Senate Committee deliberated on the recent letter written by Saudi Arabia, proposing to reduce the number of Hajj Operators of Pakistan from 905 to 46. Caretaker Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony, Aneeq Ahmed, stated that the Saudi Arabia intends to provide better facilities to Pilgrims, and in this regard, the letter has been sent to all Muslim Countries. The Committee recommended that exception should be provided to Hajj Operators for the year 2024 and the proposed number of operators by the Saudi Government should be increased to 100. The Senate body was briefed by the ministry on the recent Hajj in 2023. Officials apprised that Hajj quota for the year 2023 was 179,210, divided equally between the government.
