RIYADH, 14 May 2006 — A senior Pakistani official has denied that a Saudi court stopped Pakistan’s Religious Ministry from transferring a substantial amount of money to Pakistan, proceeds from the sale of the old Pakistan House in Madinah.
A report appeared in the Pakistani press Friday that the money had been deposited in a Saudi Bank after the sale of the property. The old Pakistan House was serving the Pakistani pilgrims for the last several years.
“We have already acquired two houses in Madinah and the money raised by the sale of the old Pakistan House has been used there,” said Beharullah Hazarvi, director-general of Haj Affairs of Pakistan, here yesterday. Hazarvi said that the “reports appearing in a section of press are baseless and unfounded. We cannot transfer Wakf money according to Shariah laws, hence the amount is being spent there itself.”
The Saudi court has contended that the amount of 30 million rupees, as mentioned in the reports, could not be transferred because it was procured from a house gifted by a Saudi king to a former governor general of Pakistan in 1950s. The court said that the proceeds of the gifted house could not be transferred out of the county, said the reports, which have also been picked up by several online news portals in the Arab world.
The Saudi authorities had asked Pakistan to sell the house since it was located in an expansion zone of the Prophet’s Mosque. Pakistan was paid 428 million rupees in cash, Pakistani newspapers said.
Hazarvi, however, could not disclose the total amount of money received by the Pakistani side by the sale of Pakistan House.
More than 150,000 Haj pilgrims visited Saudi Arabia from Pakistan this year.
