ISLAMABAD: The Haj Policy 2015 was announced here on Friday by Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf who said 143,368 Pakistanis would perform Haj this year.

Haj applications will be received by 10 designated banks from April 27 to May 8 and balloting of the applications will take place on May 14.

The applications of those who have performed Haj in the past five years will not be considered.

Under the policy, residents of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will each pay Rs264,971 and those belonging to Sindh and Balochistan Rs255,971.

The policy was expected to be announced by April 14 but got delayed because the prime minister could not sign the summary earlier.

For the first time an option of “sacrifice” has been offered to the pilgrims; those who will prefer the government to sacrifice goats on their behalf will have to submit Rs14,210 separately, whereas those who will wish to offer the sacrifice themselves will not have to pay this amount.

Addressing a press conference, the minister said that half the pilgrims would perform Haj under the government scheme and the remaining through private operators.

He said the pilgrims were required to carry machine-readable passports, computerised national identity cards and medical certificates during their visit to Saudi Arabia.

Speaking about the arrangements in the kingdom, he said the government would provide food to the pilgrims and a contingent of 450 medical personnel would be sent to assist them.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2015

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