ON April 28 the ministry of religious and interfaith harmony selected 87,421 people for Haj this year under the government scheme. However, according to the government policy, it was clearly decided to send 60pc people on the government scheme, while 40pc will benefit from the private scheme.

Owing to the case field by private Haj operators in the Sindh High Court, the ministry held a draw only against 50pc of its quota. Moreover, about 18,000 were left in the waiting list.

The other day I was astonished when I called the ministry of religious affairs about the court verdict. They responded harshly and told me that they were not aware of the court decision.

Most of the waiting candidates have no access to the social media and thus do not know anything about the pending decision. The media has also failed to highlight this serious issue. This creates feelings of frustration and deprivation among the applicants who have been waiting since April 28 for a decision.

Irfan Ogahi

Kandhkot

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2017