ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousaf on Wednesday said that even the Saudi government preferred pilgrims to use private Haj schemes instead of subsidised government programmes.

The minister said this while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs which met with Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri in the chair.

The committee had criticised the ministry for allegedly promoting private Haj schemes.

Senator Raja Zafarul Haq argued that since public trust had been restored in government, it might be better to do away with private Haj schemes altogether. He said that people who were thinking of making the pilgrimage could be encouraged to consider using the official programme, which was cheaper and designed to cater to a larger number of pilgrims.

He was seconded by Jamaat-i-Islami emir Senator Sirajul Haq, who asked why the authorities had been so tolerant of private tour operators considering they had been exploiting pilgrims by charging them exorbitant fees.

Sardar Yousaf, responding to the criticism, pointed out that the government had some inherent limitations. “We want to abolish private Haj schemes. We want all our citizens to perform Haj through the government scheme, but the fact of the matter is that even the Saudi government prefers our pilgrims to use private operators.” In addition to that, the minister said, private operators had already filed cases in courts against the Haj Policy 2018.

Sardar Yousaf also highlighted some important features of the Haj Policy, which include new regulations on repeat pilgrims.

According to the rules, there will be a restriction on those who have already performed Haj in the previous three years from the date of their current applications. Such individuals will not be allowed to go on the pilgrimage even if they have — or are — planning to use private operators.

Additionally, applicants who had applied for Haj for three consecutive years without any luck in the ballot will be given preference over other hopefuls.

The minister said that Haj charges, per person, this year will be Rs280,000 for people in the northern parts of the country, and Rs270,000 for pilgrims departing from the south.

“The Saudi government has imposed new taxes, and the devaluation of the rupee against the dollar has increased expenses by Rs45,000 per pilgrim,” Sardar Yousaf explained to the committee.

He added that the federal cabinet had approved the summary and the total additional expenditure — amounting to Rs4.70 billion — would be borne by the government.

The minister also said that they were negotiating with the Saudi authorities to allow finger-printing in the country.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2018