ACCORDING to Minister for Religious Affairs, Aneeq Ahmad, the government is considering a proposal to introduce a short duration Hajj journey in the new Hajj policy which would be presented before the cabinet soon. He told the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs that the duration of the Hajj journey is proposed to be reduced from the existing 45 days to 18-20 days but surprisingly the Minister claimed that the government would try to keep expenses of short duration equal to that of the regular duration.
There have been different proposals since long to help bring down the ever-increasing Hajj expenses that are going beyond the capacity of the ordinary citizens intending to perform the religious obligation at least once in a lifetime and a cut in the number of days in the holy land was one of them. It is quite understandable that the Hajj expenses include the rent for accommodation at Makkah Mukarrama and Madina Munawwara, food charges, transportation cost and air journey. The cost of accommodation and food must come down in proportion to reduction in the number of days in Saudi Arabia and, therefore, there seems to be no justification to keep the cost of short duration stay at par with the regular stay. If the cost is not reduced, short duration Hajj would benefit only those who cannot afford longer stay in the holy land due to their personal reasons. We hope the Minister, who has the necessary background, would hold brain-storming sessions with all stakeholders to bring down the cost of Hajj, especially when the Kingdom is proposing to increase the number of pilgrims to ten million, offering opportunity to more Pakistanis (along with other nationalities) to perform Hajj. The statement of the Minister that the Road to Makkah project would be expanded to include Karachi as well from the next Hajj. However, as both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have developed necessary experience to implement the project successfully to the benefit of the pilgrims, it needs to be expanded to all cities from where Hajj flights operate. The plan to provide a SIM to intending pilgrims for 45 days to make video calls is also a welcome development that would streamline communication needs of pilgrims.
