Recently, the government announced Haj policy for 2026. As stated by the minister concerned, it was announced to meet the deadline stipulated by the authorities in Saudi Arabia.

Prior to this, the government had asked all the intending pilgrims to get them-selves registered. Subsequently, 313,000 completed the registration process by the deadline.

During the press conference that the minister addressed in this regard, it was also stated that the total approved quota was 179,210 pilgrims for 2026 and 70 per cent of them would undertake the pilgrimage under the government scheme, while 30pc would proceed under private scheme.

The minister also stated that every applicant would have to deposit Rs500,000 along with the application, while the remaining amount will have to be paid later in instalments.

The maths is simple; 313,000 registered applicants paying Rs500,000 immediately means a total of Rs156.5 billion. The actual pilgrimage will take place sometime in May 2026, which is far away. As such, the processing should have started around December 2025. As stated by the minister, the deadline set by the Saudi government has already been met, and there is no uncertainty on that count.

Why, then, is the government so keen on having the pilgrims deposit Rs156.5 billion some eight months ahead of the event?

Khawaja Tajammul Hussain
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2025