ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: Thousands of intending pilgrims may not perform Haj this year due to delayed scrutiny of applications under the Open Haj scheme by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

With only a few days left for the completion of a pre-Haj operation, thousands of intending Hujjaj have not got visas and are uncertain to leave for Saudi Arabia.

On Saturday, many people were seen outside the religious ministry inquiring about the fate of their applications.

Talking to APP, most of the intending Hujjaj opined that scrutiny of their applications should have been completed well before the time to save them from the embarrassing situation.

Some of them also alleged that graft was being taken by some officials of the ministry to clear the applications.

According to well-placed sources, over 19,000 applicants had applied for Haj under the open scheme against the fixed quota of 15,000.

The ministry continued to receive applications with Rs5,000 late fee till Dec 31, and started scrutiny of all applications in the first week of January.

Thousands of applications were rejected on the grounds that they were without sufficient documents to indicate availability of residence in Saudi Arabia.—APP