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       The Pakistan Haj Organisers Association on Monday said that 2.67 billion Saudi riyals (approximately Rs199.67bn) had been transferred from Pakistan to the kingdom for the facilitation of Haj pilgrims.

       In January, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the annual Haj agreement, under which 179,210 Pakistani pilgrims were allowed to perform Haj, with around 90,000 people performing the pilgrimage under the government’s scheme.

       However, a notification from the religious affairs ministry last week said that only 23,620 pilgrims would be allowed to perform Haj privately, raising questions about the fate of the remaining 67,000 pilgrims up in the air. Media reports said that over Rs36bn paid by the 67,000 pilgrims were now in limbo.

       Addressing a press conference on the matter today, Mohammad Kamran Zeb disclosed that the 67,000 pilgrims were facing severe difficulties as they had paid for the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia by Haj operators.

       “A total of Rs22.5bn was paid for tickets, Rs220 million was paid in advance tax to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and another Rs1.58bn was paid to the Ministry of Religious Affairs as service charges at Rs17,000 per pilgrim,” he said.

       Zeb added that the above amounts also included money from overseas Pakistanis, who made up 30 per cent of the pilgrims, that had been sent to Saudi Arabia. He requested Pakistani and Saudi authorities to look into the matter and resolve it in favour of the pilgrims.

       The association chairman also elaborated on hurdles set up by the government, including transfer caps on the organisers. He questioned why money continued to be sent when the deadline for all Haj applications and related matters by Saudi authorities was February 14.

       He assailed the religious affairs ministry for beginning to process applications from November while restricting Haj organisers from doing so, questioning why it made them become late.

       “All money has been sent from us that the pilgrims gave.”

       A day ago, federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf said that the government was actively trying to send as many pilgrims as it could for Haj, adding that 10,000 more Pakistanis have been permitted to perform the pilgrimage privately.

       Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Naya Pakistan’, Yousaf said that the government was trying to ensure that as many Pakistani pilgrims could perform Haj this year.

       “We are trying to enable as many of the 179,210 pilgrims to travel for Haj,” the minister emphasised. “Of that number, 50 per cent are going under the government scheme, and their arrangements are complete.

       “With the prime minister’s permission, I went to Saudi Arabia and met their Haj minister. We discussed this issue, and he said, ‘We had agreed on all of this in a meeting in December and gave a timeline for the procedure.’ We requested that they extend the deadline so that our pilgrims are not left behind.”

       Yousaf stated that after approaching Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and asking him to speak with his Saudi counterpart, an additional 10,000 Pakistanis were permitted to perform Haj privately.