ISLAMABAD, Nov 17: Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi said at a press conference here on Monday that he was ready to accept the formation of a parliamentary committee to ensure transparency of the Haj operation.

In a reply to allegations of theft of 10,000 Haj forms and their sale for up to Rs30,000 with the connivance of some officials of his ministry and allocation of quota to ineligible tour operators, he said instances of such irregularities should be brought to his notice.

He said the transparency could also be ensured through the house committee on religious affairs.

Religious Affairs Secretary Naguibullah Malik said he had written to police to investigate reports of irregularities.

He admitted that the promise of giving 12,000 riyals to every pilgrim could not be fulfilled be-cause of increased rents in the holy land.

Replying to a question, he said Haj quotas had been allocated only to operators approved by the Saudi government.

The minister said 70,000, out of 164,746 pilgrims, had so far landed in Saudi Arabia.

“The last flight of the pre-Haj operation will take off on Dec 2 and the return flights will start on Dec 12,” he said.

He said the pilgrims landing at Madina had expressed satisfaction over the arrangements, but those reaching Makkah had faced some difficulties, e.g. accommodation at a long distance from Haram Sharif. “A shuttle service has been started for them, but many are unaware about this despite publicity.”

He said some pilgrims affiliated with private tour operators were yet to receive visas because of delay in the issuance of bar codes by the Saudi government.

“There is no delay on our part.

It may be because of non-issuance of bar code on passports by the Saudi ministry, containing the bio-data of the pilgrims, details of their accommodation and the dates of departure and return,” the minister said.

Denying reports that he had differences with the secretary, the minister admitted that some bitterness arose when he had referred, “under parliamentarians’ pressure,” some cases which were not permissible under the rules.

Hamid Kazmi said that only 109, of the 30,000-seat quota for private tour operators, had been surrendered and they had been filled under the government scheme.