LAHORE: The process of receiving applications for Haj was completed in neighbouring India a fortnight ago, while the Pakistan government has yet to announce its ‘policy’ for this year’s pilgrimage.

Designated branches of authorised banks all over the country had started receiving Haj applications under the government scheme from March 5 and the process was almost complete by end of the month last year, a source in the Ministry of Religious Affairs told Dawn on Sunday.

Inordinate delay in initiation of the process seemed to have confirmed the fears that undertaking the pilgrimage with peace of mind would not be possible under the government scheme.

The federal minister for religious affairs had on Dec 2 last year announced at a Haj consultative workshop in Lahore that a new policy would be made public in January 2014. The minister reiterated his resolve at a similar workshop in Karachi on Dec 12. However, merely the draft Haj Policy 2014 was uploaded on the ministry’s website on Feb 3, seeking views, comments or suggestions from the general public without giving any deadline.

Later, the ministry said on Feb 23 it would formally announce the new policy in the early days of March after getting approval from the federal cabinet.

According to the draft policy, there would be only one category of accommodation at Makkah (Azizia) for the intending pilgrims for 3,600 riyals. “The Haj Committee of India has charged 2,600 riyals per pilgrim for the same facility. For Pakistanis, the exchange rate for Saudi riyal has been fixed at Rs31 when it was available for Rs28.30 in the open market,” said the source from the ministry. Another issue hindering a formal announcement of the new policy was the fare being demanded by the national carrier for transportation of pilgrims. “The national carrier has demanded Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 more than private airlines.