February 10, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 8,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: The Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) has expressed its profound concern over inefficiency of the officials of the religious affairs ministry in entertaining the applications adequately for Haj.

The ministry has returned applications along with passports to 5,000 persons, who were not issued visas under the Open Haj Scheme.

The CRCP said the return of the applications had caused a lot of inconvenience to the applicants, who were staying in Islamabad for completion of procedural requirements.

Secretary General CRCP Mian Abrar Hafeez while explaining the issue said 20,000 people had applied for Haj under Open Haj Scheme against the quota of 15,000. The ministry accepted all the applications but refused them visas at the eleventh hour.

He said the rejection of applications at the eleventh hour had caused a great deal of inconvenience to the applicants. These applicants, he added, had been staying in Islamabad for many days for completion of procedural requirements.

Mian Abrar Hafeez further said some irregularities had also occurred in the handling of Haj applications.

For instance, the members of a family were issued visas, while others were refused. Even in some cases, a wife was issued visa, while her husband was denied the same.

He also said the applicants had also accused the ministry officials of taking bribe for accepting Haj applications. There were also charges of misconduct on the part of the secretary of the ministry, he added.