The Ministry of Religious Affairs has said that the process of receipt of Hajj applications has been completed, lottery of applications will be held tomorrow (Sunday).
The Ministry of Religious Affairs said that 63,666 Hajj applications have been received from banks till 12 midnight on May 13.
He said that the official Hajj quota is 32 thousand while more than 63 thousand applications have been received.
According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the draw for Hajj applications will be held in Islamabad on Sunday.
It may be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Religious Affairs, while announcing the receipt of Hajj applications on April 30, had said that from May 1 to May 13, Hajj applications with Rs 50,000 token money would be received.
Announcing the Hajj policy during a press conference in Islamabad, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor had said that online applications could be submitted from May 1 to 13 and from May 9 to 13 in approved banks.
The Federal Minister for Religious Affairs had said that details of Hajj expenses have not been received from Saudi Arabia yet but Hajj expenses could be between Rs 7 lakh and Rs 10 lakh.
Mufti Abdul Shakoor had further said that Pakistan has got quota of 81,132 pilgrims which will be 60% private and 40% government.
The Federal Minister said that the private quota allotted for Hajj pilgrims would be distributed among the 803 companies already approved.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs said that the Saudi government has allowed one million pilgrims to perform Hajj this year, according to which Pakistan has a quota of 81,132.
According to the statement, this year, according to the rules of the Saudi government, people over the age of 65 will not be able to perform Hajj.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the recommended code for Hajj pilgrims must be vaccinated and booster dosed and PCR test must be done 72 hours before departure.
It may be recalled that the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia had recently approved the quota of pilgrims from all over the world for Hajj 2022, according to which a total of one million pilgrims will be blessed this year.
Saudi Arabia allocates Hajj quotas to Muslim countries according to their population, and this time the highest quota has been set for Indonesia. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, will receive the highest number of 100,000 pilgrims, followed by 81,132 pilgrims from Pakistan.
India ranks third in the list from which 79,237 people will travel for Hajj while 57,585 people from Bangladesh will enjoy the blessings of Hajj.
It should be noted that 2 years ago, due to the epidemic covide-19, citizens coming for Hajj, Umrah and other purposes were given corona vaccine, PCR test and quarantine conditions.
In March 2020, Saudi Arabia initially announced a daily closure of the Masjid al-Haram in Makkah and the Masjid al-Nabawi in Madinah from one hour after Isha prayers to one hour before Fajr prayers.
Later, on March 21, Saudi officials closed the doors of other mosques, including the Prophet’s Mosque, to ordinary worshipers due to the corona virus, taking steps to reduce the number of mosques during Friday and five-hour prayers.
“For the first time in 40 years, Umrah has been stopped, and all mosques in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf have been closed for prayers,” he said.
The Saudi government also announced the suspension of Ramadan Itikaf in Masjid al-Haram and Masjid al-Nabawi in 2020.
The government had announced the opening of Masjid-e-Nabawi to the public in stages on May 30, 2020, but the number was limited.
In addition, due to the Corona virus, Hajj 2020 and 2021 were also performed with limited number of pilgrims and Corona restrictions.
However, in view of the significant reduction in the virus this year, on March 22, Saudi Arabia announced the complete lifting of the two-year Corona ban on all persons, including Umrah pilgrims.