ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Comm­ittee (PAC) on Monday recommended forensic audit of Haj expenses incurred under the government scheme during this year’s Haj.

Presiding over a meeting of the committee, PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan said that despite completion of Haj proceedings, several officials including the additional secretary to the ministry of religious affairs and interfaith harmony, Mr Atta-ur-Rehman, DG of Haj and other staff were still in Saudi Arabia and they had not returned to the country.

The committee discussed reports of problems faced by Pakistani Haj pilgrims this year.

It was noted that the matter had already been forwarded to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for probe into the complaints and suggest measures so that Haj pilgrims in future did not experience such problems.

Mr Khan directed the authorities concerned of the ministry of religious affairs and interfaith harmony to provide a detailed respo­nse as to why Pakistani pilgrims experienced problems during the Haj.

The religious affairs secretary said that the ministry was responsible for the needs of Haj pilgrims and other arrangements in Madina and Makkah, whereas most of the complaints had been received from places where arrangements had been made by the Saudi government.

The members of the committee demanded that overhead expenditures incurred by the ministry should be reduced to make Haj cheaper under the government scheme.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2023