According to a top official in Pakistan’s ministry of religion, Saudi Arabia will increase Pakistan’s Hajj pilgrimage quota to around 180,000 as part of its effort to bring back the pre-pandemic Hajj pilgrimage rates for all countries.
Every adult Muslim who is physically and financially capable of doing so must perform the Hajj, a lifetime journey to the sacred sites in Makkah and Madinah. This is one of the five pillars of Islam.
During the worst of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, only 1,000 locals were permitted to perform the Hajj. The kingdom limited the pilgrimage last year, as opposed to the 60,000 domestic pilgrims recorded prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year, Saudi Arabia allowed 1 million pilgrims to perform the Hajj both domestically and abroad. There were 83,132 Pakistani pilgrims among them.
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The restoration of the pre-coronavirus Hajj quota would enable more than 179,210 Pakistanis to perform the pilgrimage in 2019, he said. The Saudi authorities have not yet provided Pakistan with written confirmation, Durrani continued.
The written agreement in this regard will be signed with the Saudi government when a Hajj conference takes place on January 9 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Durrani said.
He added that either Durrani or Pakistan’s minister for religious affairs would represent Pakistan at the conference, where all issues relating to the Hajj would be settled by the representatives of the monarchy.
