The Ministry of Religious Affairs will develop a mechanism to streamline the Umrah system and register Pakistani agents for processing and endorsement of Umrah visa to eliminate sub-agents and other unauthorised persons.
This decision has been made in a meeting between Minister for Religious Affairs, Ijazul Haq and his Saudi counterpart to finalise arrangements for the next Haj falling in December.
On the occasion, they also discussed recent restrictions imposed by the Saudi Government on performance of Umrah under 40 years of age, a spokesman of the Ministry said on Thursday. An advertisement of for registration of Umrah agents shall be published in the press shortly, he added. He expressed the confidence that registration would help in improving the system and redress the grievances of genuine Umrah pilgrims.
During the meeting, the Saudi Minister for Haj explained in detail their position stating that restrictions are not discriminatory but are applicable to pilgrims of different countries of specific age groups who have been found over staying in the Kingdom.
He informed that a large number of pilgrims under 40 years of age, over stayed illegally for performing Haj which seriously disturbed the entire Haj arrangements. These unplanned pilgrims do not have proper arrangements for tents at Mina and Arafat, adding, they sleep in the vicinity of Jamarat, which causes very fatal stampedes.
The Saudi Minister, therefore, desired that Pakistani government may regulate Umrah operation and for this purpose only those Pakistani agents who are registered with Ministry of Religious Affairs, Zakat and Ushr will be authorised to handle Umrah business by Saudi Principals.
The Saudi Minister also assured that the position will be reviewed after a few months and in case of tangible progress the restrictions would be reviewed.