ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony is trying to arrange foreign exchange for all the intending pilgrims who want to perform Hajj through a regular scheme this year.
According to official sources, the religious affairs ministry had urged the finance ministry to go the extra mile and provide foreign exchange for all the aspirant pilgrims. Due to this reason, the religious affairs ministry had postponed the Hajj balloting which was to be held on April 5, they maintained.
They said the ministry was expecting maximum participation of overseas Pakistanis in the Sponsorship Hajj Scheme but it could not yield the desired results as only a few thousand people had applied for Hajj through this scheme.
They also said there were some difficulties in transferring funds from the world over in foreign currency, otherwise, the ratio of Hajj applicants would have significantly increased.
They expressed their fear that if the foreign exchange could not be arranged, the ministry had to surrender the rest of Hajj quota to the Saudi government. They said the finance ministry had assured all out support to the religious ministry into the matter.
