Pakistan mulls returning Hajj quota to Saudi Arabia after applications fall short

The government has decided to return Pakistan's quota of Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arab due to a shortfall of applications because of rising inflation, sources within Ministry of Religious Affairs said on Wednesday.

For the first time, a quota for Hajj pilgrimage was available in the country but the shortage of dollars and rising inflation stopped Pakistanis from applying for Hajj.

Sources said that the final decision to hand back the Hajj quota will be made by the federal cabinet.

Sources said that many Pakistanis couldn't apply for Hajj pilgrimage this year due to high inflation. They said that the authorities also mulled giving the official Hajj quota to the private operators after a low applications turned out for the government scheme.

However, going for this option would mean the private operators will have to collect dollars from the open market, causing unnecessary demand of the foreign currency, sources added

Sources further stated that Pakistan had been demanding to increase the Hajj quota allowing 179,210 pilgrims to 202,000 or 201,000 pilgrims. However, this year when the country received its complete quota of 179,000 pilgrims after many years, it couldn't be utilised entirely.

It may be noted that the expense of government sponsored Hajj is around Rs1.2 million. 

In view of an acute shortage of the greenback amid collapsing economy, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony had decided to allocate a 50% special quota in the Government Hajj Scheme-2023 for the pilgrims who will pay in US dollars.

However, sources said that a quota of 89,605 Hajj pilgrims had been set under the government scheme. However, the government fell short of 9,000 applicants.

As per the breakdown, the government received 72,869 applicants under the regular scheme and only 8,000 applications were received under the sponsorship scheme.

Moreover, under the official regular scheme, 28,679 additional applications were received against the quota of 44,190. The additional applicants are being sent for Hajj pilgrimage without a lucky draw.

The sources said that a total of $235 million was required for the government scheme. Some of the funds were being provided by the sponsorship scheme and the rest by the government, they added.