LAHORE, Jan 26: A national conference is being called in March to discuss problems and difficulties the pilgrims had to face at various stages while performing their religious duty and to take steps to avert them in the future, Haj and Religious Affairs Minister Ejazul Haq said here on Thursday.

At a news conference at the Haji Camp, he said arrangements for haj this year were much better than last year’s but the government would still try to provide better facilitate to pilgrims.

A large number of hajis would be invited to the March conference so that they could share their experience and offer suggestions to improve the situation, he said.

The minister said the government would gradually reduce its role in the haj operation and leave it to the private sector to make all arrangements. Over the next five years, the haj operation would be privatized and the government would confine its role to that of a regulatory authority.

Referring to the delay in the return of haj flights from Saudi Arabia, he said it was caused because this was the first time PIA had been allowed to land at Madina and it did not have necessary arrangements to fly the pilgrims back from the holy city. Hajis supposed to have been flown back from Madina had to go to Jeddah for return flights, and thus the delay and inconvenience.

He believed that next time the pilgrims would not have to face the same situation.

He claimed that the process of hiring buildings in Makkah and Madina was much better and transparent this year. As a result, the hajis were reimbursed Rs120 million they had overpaid for accommodation.

About the private haj operators, the minister said all 21 against whom complaints had been received last year had been blacklisted. This year, only those private operators were allowed who were registered with the SECP.

Private haj operators, he said, charged between Rs92,000 and Rs600,000 per person, depending upon the facilities they provided to their clients.

He said this year too some complaints had been received against some haj operators which would be looked into before taking action against them.

Mr Haq said best possible medical services had been provided to the pilgrims. Some 249,000 pilgrims, many of them belonging to other countries, were treated by the medical teams.

As for difficulties faced by Pakistani pilgrims while going from Mina to Arafat and from Arafat to Muzdalifa and Mina, he said they were caused because the number of pilgrims was too high and distances were too short for the bus fleets to move on.

He said he too was stuck in the crowds for 16 hours, although he could cover the same distance in 20 minutes with official protocol.

He said just to stay with the Pakistani pilgrims and see the situations they had to face, he did not accept the Saudi government’s offer to perform haj with protocol.