Members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs) have demanded that five seats from the Haj quota be at the disposal of each MPA, which they would distribute among the people of their constituencies.
In their joint statement Shahid Mehmood Khan, Amer Saeed Ansari, Dr Akhtar Malik, Malik Ahmed Hussain Dehar said that government should allocate specific quota for the MPAs so that they could oblige their voters. MPA from Multan Syed Nazim Hussain Shah said that nothing would go wrong if a greater number of people performed Haj.
He said that the quota for private tour operators was being increased and that each MNA had 10 seats of Haj quota. MPAs said that Punjab government should form a committee which would ensure that MPAs get the quota. Another MPA said that if the number of people going to Saudi Arabia for Haj could not be increased, the quota for private tour operators should be reduced to accommodate the MPAs' quota.
MPAs asked Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif to talk to Islamabad on the issue. Advisor to Prime Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi said, when contacted to comment on their demand, no MPA of the four provinces was getting any Haj quota. He said that since the Saudi government had fixed the Haj quota, the federal government could not increase the number of people allowed to go to Haj.
Kazmi said the federal government had not increased the quota for any private tour operator and if anyone knew otherwise, he should tell him (Kazmi) about it. He said a demand for the increase in Haj quota had already been sent to the Saudi government, but it could only be considered next year.