Financial crunch is also affecting the Hajj-2024 preparations

The financial crunch is also affecting the Hajj-2024 preparations as the government sponsorship scheme receives only 2,800 applications.

While 58,000 applications were received under the regular scheme.

As reported, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has decided to seek assistance to ensure increased participation of the Pakistani diaspora after extending the Hajj 2024 application deadline by 10 days from December 12 to 22 earlier this week.

In its bid to attract valuable foreign exchange in the wake of depleting forex reserves, the government, for the Hajj 2024 has allocated 25,000 seats in the sponsorship scheme, and those paying their dues in dollars from abroad will be declared as “winners” without the need for ballotting.

However, after such a low turnout in the sponsorship scheme, the Ministry of Religious Affairs has written to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis to enlighten Pakistanis living abroad about the Haj application filing process.

As reported, the Ministry of Religious Affairs — after approaching interior and foreign ministries — has also decided to seek the assistance of the Ministry of Information in this regard.

For the upcoming Hajj, the government has also introduced both long and short-term packages spanning over 38 to 42 and 20 to 25 days, respectively.

The government has already slashed Haj expenses by Rs100,000 with the next year’s pilgrimage set to cost Rs1,075,000 to around 89,605 Pakistanis expected to perform Haj under the government scheme.