ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Religious Affairs is gearing up to start the Hajj operation for this year to take the pilgrims to the Holy land.
Sources close to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony disclosed on Saturday that the applications under the government Hajj scheme would be accepted by banks from March 13th after go ahead by the federal cabinet. The banks would elaborate the documents needed to process the applications but generally it is on first come first serve basis.
They revealed that the cost for this year’s Hajj would be between Rs 1.1 to 1.2 million. The quota for sponsorship Hajj scheme has also been fixed at 50 percent while 25 percent would go to regular Hajj applicants and the rest of the 25 percent would be utilized by private Hajj operators.
Cost of Hajj
The national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has announced that its pre-Hajj operation would commence from May 21 and continue till August 12 to transport 38,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
“Pre Hajj operation will commence from 1st Zilqad till 4th Zilhajj, 1444 corresponding to Gregorian date 21st May till 22nd June 2023 (subject to moon sighting),” stated PIA Hajj circular.
PIA has decided to charge fares in US dollars for the second year in a row and fixed the fares for pilgrims going to Saudi Arabia under the private Hajj scheme from $870 to $1180 for the Southern region that includes Karachi, Quetta, Sukkur, Hyderabad.
Moreover, the airfares for the pilgrims from the northern region would be in the range of $910 to $1,220. This region includes Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan, and other cities.
Sources say PIA will use Boeing 777 and Airbus 320 for its Hajj flight operations to Jeddah and Madinah.
