ISLAMABAD, Feb 5: The ministry of religious affairs on Wednesday accepted its failure in getting Haj visas for as many as 5,000 applicants who will not be able to perform Haj this year.

The ministry assured the unsuccessful applicants that their passports along with bank drafts would be delivered to them at their homes in a couple of days.

The inefficiency of the ministry, coupled with the soaring number of applicants, resulted in this fiasco. Some 20,000 persons had applied for the Open Haj Scheme against its quota of 15,000.

Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali had given approval for accepting all the applications received in the ministry but the Saudi embassy refused to oblige against its own rules, sources said.

The Haj applicants, who failed to reach out to the officials concerned in the ministry due to heavy security arrangements, have been holding protest demonstrations and blockading roads for the last several days.

It has been learnt on good authority that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has ordered an inquiry into the affairs of the ministry and causes of its failure in completing the scrutiny process.

The government has decided to sack/remove a number of high officials on charges of complacency, inefficiency and corruption, official sources, who declined to be named, said.

Secretary religious affairs ministry, Jamil Ahmed Bhutto, who was given a two-year extension in service after he reached superannuation, has gone on a month-long leave after sustaining a stroke last week.

A ministry spokesman had earlier told this correspondent that the Saudi embassy had refused visas on technical grounds.

An official handout issued by the ministry said: “Haj visas were not issued to 5,000 applicants as they were over the given quota and returning process of all such passports has been started.

“All such passports, along with bank drafts, Muallam fees etc., will be sent on the addresses given on passports through courier service and will reach the addressees over the next three or four days.”