Private operators call for Haj quota restoration

LAHORE

Haj Operators Association of Pakistan (HOAP) Punjab Chairman Shahid Rafiq has said that Haj and Religious Affairs Ministry has done injustice to the private haj operators who have invested billions of rupees in this sector to provide quality services to the guests of Allah Almighty and pay tax worth millions of rupees to the government.

In a press release, he said last year the number of the pilgrims under the government scheme was 107,000, but the Haj Ministry could not take care of them properly and at least 20,000 pilgrims could not reach Arafat for lack of transport facility. This year the number of the haj pilgrims under the government scheme is 120,000. It would be injustice to the pilgrims as the government would not be able to make arrangements for all of them, whereas, private tour operators had experience of several decades in this sector and set record of providing quality services to the haj pilgrims, he added.

The HOAP Punjab chairman has appealed to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousuf to take notice of the matter and restore 50 percent quota of the private haj operators by revising the ministry’s memorandum of understanding signed with the Saudi government.