ISLAMABAD: Secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Aftab Akbar Durrani on Thursday thanked Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and others for providing facilities to Pakistani Hujjaj during Hajj 2022.

In a statement, he thanked the Saudi government, its institutions and embassy in Pakistan for their commendable cooperation to Pakistani Hujjaj.

He said that, the overall Hajj arrangements were satisfactory despite some deficiencies.

Aftab Akbar Durrani said the government and the ministry worked hard for timely provision of facilities to Hajj Pilgrims during Hajj 2022.

He said the Hajj was, normally, announced by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in December every year and the Hajj policy was approved by cabinet in the same month - giving five to six months to ministry for hajj arrangements.

He said, this year, the Hajj and its expenditures were announced in April and May respectively. Overnight the Ministry finalized the Hajj policy and, despite shortage of time, ministry got its approval from the cabinet on May 24 through circulation.

The Secretary said, due to extra hard work put in by the ministry and the Hajj mission Jeddah, the first hajj flight was left for Madinah Munawwarah on June 6.