Haj Policy 2026 to land in NA soon

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf Monday informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Religious Affairs that the Haj Policy 2026 would soon be placed before the federal cabinet for approval.

Giving a briefing to the standing committee which met here under Malik Aamir Dogar, the minister apprised the participants that the Haj Policy was being drafted as per the Saudi government’s guidelines and regulations.

He said the Haj arrangements for the year 2025 remained exemplary as the Pakistan Haj mission was also given the ‘Excellency Award’ for its performance. He said Pakistani pilgrims who performed Haj under the government scheme were provided with the air-conditioned facilities even at Arafat and Mina with quality food and other services.

The committee members also discussed the situation arising out of lapse of quota of over 63,000 pilgrims under the private scheme. The minister said an amount of 365 million Riyals of thousands of Pakistani applicants who could not perform Haj due to different reasons had been deposited in Saudi Arabia and they might be given preference next year.

He said the private Haj operators also wanted that the applicants who could not perform Haj this year, should be preferred the next year. He said that the government was working on different proposals like receiving Haj expenses in installments and sea travel in order reduce expenditures.

Some committee members on the occasion, complained that neither the parliamentarians who perform Haj are given the status of state guest nor do they get any attention from the staff of the ministry or Haj mission.

The standing committee sought a report on comparison of Haj expenses with those of other regional countries like Bangladesh and India. A member of the standing committee, Bashir Khan, questioned as to why the committee on religious affairs does not take notice of continuous interest-based banking system in the country.

Aamir Dogar pointed out that the Federal Shariat Court had already given its verdict against the interest-based economic system. The committee members were also informed that the government was also initiating toll-free calls system at district levels to stop crimes against the minorities.