Sardar Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistan’s federal minister for Haj and Religious Affairs, said that his ministry was planning to do away with the categorization of Haj pilgrims from the country under the national Haj scheme.

Haj pilgrims will instead be sent as a single group that will enjoy the same facilities and accommodation.

Yousuf was speaking to Pakistani journalists during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia to attend the customary washing of the Holy Kaaba (House of God) in Makkah on Monday and to follow up on post-Haj operations.

He said private tour operators can continue to extend facilities to pilgrims according to the packages they have paid for but that pilgrims performing Haj under the Pakistan government scheme would all be treated equally.

Yousuf said that he had suggested holding an early meeting to plan out next year’s Haj during his last meeting with Saudi Haj Minister Bandar Hajar and that such a new policy would be reviewed with the Saudi Haj minister at a meeting to be held early next year.

The minister thanked the Saudi government and Haj Ministry for the successful Haj season.

A total of 143,000 Pakistanis performed Haj this year. Around 80,000 participated under the government Haj scheme, while the rest opted for private tour operators.

Yousuf said that his government would try harder to eliminate problems that occur both under the government scheme and for private tour operators during next year’s Haj. He said strict action will be taken against private tour operators who failed to provide adequate facilities to pilgrims.



“We have set up a three-man committee under the chairmanship of the joint secretary of the Haj pilgrimage to look into the matter. Reports are coming in and we are collating data and complaints,” he said.

The minister said that the Pakistani government did everything in its power to provide the highest quality facilities for its pilgrims, from transportation to accommodation, upon the instructions of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

An electronic Haj monitoring system and a toll-free helpline for Pakistani pilgrims was also introduced, he informed.

Yousuf announced that a compensation amount of 500,000 Pakistani rupees would be paid to the families of all 83 pilgrims who died during Haj this year.