Around 400 volunteers from the capital will assist Asian Haj pilgrims who will come to the holy cities during this year.

The Riyadh chapter of the Pakistan Haj Volunteers Group (PHVG) is getting ready to send a team of 400 Muslim expatriates, mostly Pakistanis, to assist the pilgrims.

The group will send 1,800 volunteers this year Kingdom-wide.

The announcement was made at an awards ceremony held at the WAMY auditorium here on Friday to honor 300 volunteers who participated in last year’s Haj pilgrimage.

Khayyam Akbar, charge d’affaires at the Pakistan Embassy, who was the chief guest at the function, distributed the awards to the volunteers.

Commending the excellent services rendered by the PHVG, Akbar pointed out that serving the guests of God is a great service rendered by these volunteers.

He said that there are some 143,368 Pakistani pilgrims will perform Haj this year, along with millions of pilgrims from around the world.

The diplomat urged the Pakistan community to join hands with PHVG for this noble cause which will be richly rewarded by the Almighty.

He also assured that the Pakistan Embassy would offer whatever assistance needed to help the Hajis to be comfortable during their stay in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

According to Abrar Hussain Tanoli, one of the senior members of the group this year, a few Indian expatriates have also expressed their willingness to participate in this volunteer program.

“Our volunteers will man the strategic places in Makkah and Mina only,” he said, adding that the volunteers will offer all forms of assistance to pilgrims who need their services.

We would not differentiate the Pakistani pilgrims from other nationals, our services will be available to all pilgrims irrespective of their countries of origin,” he stressed

The group will function under the aegis of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) and the Pakistan Haj Office in Makkah, which is run by the Pakistan Consul General’s Office in Jeddah.

Tanoli said the group was launched in 2011 with only 85 volunteers. In 2012, the membership rose to 230 and in 2013 the group deployed 1,200 volunteers in the service of pilgrims in the holy sites. He thanked WAMY and Pakistan Haj mission, Jeddah for their support and cooperation.

Earlier, Jaleel Hasan, chairman of the Pakistan Engineers Council in Saudi Arabia, and Professor Dr. Zafar Elahi Khawaja praised PHVG volunteers for their services and urged PHVG management to rope in Pakistan Community School students for this worthy project.

Adnan Naseer and Hasan Qureshi, senior members of the PHVG, also spoke at the meeting.

Adnan Naseer said during the upcoming Haj season, the PHVG planned to field 1,800 volunteers. He added that the group mobilizes volunteers from Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Taif and Madinah and is funded by philanthropists from the Pakistan community.