ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Aneeq Ahmed has announced balloting for the Hajj 2024. The government received 69,438 applications under regular Hajj Scheme and 63,805 of them remained successful in the balloting.
A waiting list of unsuccessful 5,633 applicants has been prepared as per their cities of departure. Applicants on waiting list will be selected if intending pilgrims belonging to that city withdraws Hajj application.
All applicants will be apprised tonight via mobile SMS, website, or the mobile App. However, the sponsorship scheme will continue by Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said first time ever short Hajj is being facilitated by Pakistani authorities. He said among the applicants, 56 percent are women and 44 percent are men. The minister said we will provide each pilgrim a suitcase with QR code so that neither Haji nor Haji’s belongings get lost. He said each pilgrim will be provided a data bundle of 7 Gbs.
Earlier, As the deadline to accept applications for the regular Hajj scheme expires today, Friday, Pakistan’s religion ministry announced it would hold a draw to select successful applicants next Thursday, Dec. 28.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony (MoRA) announced earlier this month extended the deadline for Hajj applications till Dec. 22 as it had not received an adequate number of applications by Dec. 12, the initial deadline. –Agencies
