MM News

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has decided that all 72,869 applicants who submitted requests under the Regular Hajj Scheme will be declared successful without any need for balloting.

This decision was made during the ECC’s meeting held in Islamabad today, with the Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, in the chair.

In addition to this announcement, the meeting also approved the modalities for this year’s Hajj Scheme. The ECC also granted approval to an additional financial requirement of $163 million in foreign exchange for Hajj this year.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony presented details on the Hajj Policy-2023, the number of applications received under the Regular Hajj Scheme, the unutilized quota under the regular and sponsorship Hajj schemes, and the financial requirement for the Hajj in the meeting.

The approval of the additional financial requirement is expected to help ensure that all necessary arrangements are made to facilitate the pilgrims.

It may be mentioned here that Pakistan’s quota for Hajj 2023 is 179,210 pilgrims, but the record inflation and increase in the price of Hajj has resulted in lesser number of applicants, even below the quota of country prompting the authorities to consider all the applicants under regular government scheme and Sponsorship Scheme without the need for balloting.