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26 January 2004
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Monday
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03 Zilhaj 1424
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Last Haj flight leaves today
ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The pre-Haj operation to airlift about 130,000 intending Pakistani pilgrims to Jeddah will be completed on Jan 26. The last Haj flight PK-1361 would leave Lahore for Jeddah on Monday evening
, Joint Secretary (Haj) of Ministry of Religious Affairs, A.R. Abid told APP here on Saturday.
He said that PIA would carry 111,572 intending pilgrims to Jeddah from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta, while Saudi Airlines has already completed its pre-Haj operation by airlifting more than 10,000 pilgrims to Jeddah.
The post-Haj operation will begin from Feb 5 and end on March 6, he added. The official said the pre-Haj operation had been conducted smoothly due to timely arrangements made by the ministry to facilitate pilgrims.
"We timely acquired residential buildings in Makkah and Madina for our pilgrims and also got visas stamped on the passports of all the applicants who applied under the sponsorship and open Haj schemes," he added.In reply to a question, he said all the Pakistani pilgrims would reach Saudi Arabia by Dec 26.
He said personnel of the Haj Directorate, based in Jeddah, Makkah and Madina would extend all types of assistance and necessary guidance to intending pilgrims.
For the convenience of pilgrims, the ministry has developed a website www.hajjinfo.org to provide latest information to the pilgrims and their relatives.
He advised the pilgrims who had arrived in Saudi Arabia to visit the website for seeking any information instead of approaching the Haj Directorate. The return plan for the pilgrims with flight number and departure time would also be available at the website, he added.
The official said information about tent number of each pilgrim during his stay in Mina would be available at the website. The joint secretary said a control room had been set up at the Haj Directorate, Makkah, to facilitate Pakistan pilgrims.
A lost and found section had also been established in the directorate, he said and added that a guide post had been set up to take pilgrims from homes to Haram and back.-APP
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