ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Ijazul Haq has said that a committee, comprising government representatives and the public, will be formed to investigate complaints against private Haj tour operators.

Speaking at a post-Haj press conference here on Tuesday, the minister said this year the number of complaints had greatly been reduced due to the strict monitoring mechanism implemented by the government.

“But if we receive any complaint, proper action against the responsible private tour operator would be taken,” he added. Mr Haq said the licenses of guilty tour operators would be cancelled or their quota curtailed, depending on the severity of the lapse.

He said, “the names of such private tour operators (PTOs) and government action taken against them would be publicised widely in media.”

While licenses of those private operators whose performance was deemed satisfactory would be renewed automatically, he added.

The minister said only 44 complaints had so far been received from pilgrims performing Haj under the government scheme but these were mostly about buildings or lifts and other petty matters.

About 15,000 pilgrims had returned to the country and the process will be completed by February 3, when the last flight is scheduled. He said a total of 140 pilgrims died due to various health related problems.

Giving figures, the minister said a total of 155,000 Pakistanis performed Haj in 2006. About 78,000 pilgrims went under government scheme and 77,000 pilgrims under PTOs. He informed that 463 flights carried them to their destination.

The minister also indicated that in future the government would focus on training programmes for pilgrims from rural areas and tour operators would also be asked to focus more on them.—APP