The Ministry of Religious Affairs said on Sunday that the annual Hajj flight operations will begin from April 29.
It said that an earlier statement made by Federal Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf regarding the “commencement of Hajj operations from May 28 may kindly be ignored.”
In a related development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered a high-level inquiry into the reasons why Pakistan failed to fully utilise its private Hajj 2025 quota, resulting in disappointment for thousands of prospective pilgrims.
The decision by the prime minister to investigate the matter follows reports that the country did not fulfill essential criteria established by Saudi Arabia’s Hajj policy, a situation that may have significant implications for upcoming pilgrimages.
A notification issued by the Cabinet Division said that a three-member inquiry committee has been formed to investigate the reasons behind this catastrophic failure.
The committee, led by the Secretary of the Cabinet Division, will delve deep into the bureaucratic blunders that led to the non-compliance with the Kingdom’s Hajj policy.
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