ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs has declared as “unfeasible” the Maritime Affairs Ministry’s “Hajj through Sea” proposal keeping in view the project’s “unaffordable” financial cost and logistical issues.

The Hajj through Sea proposal envisaged the travelling of Hajj pilgrims from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia using sea route—passing through different countries in the region.

In the NA panel’s meeting, Thursday, under the chairmanship of Mir Amer Ali Khan Magsi, the ministry shared the initial plan for the Hajj through Sea initiative in front of the committee to deliberate upon the feasibility of the project.

The committee was of the view that the project was unfeasible, considering the financial cost, the time for transportation and cases from other countries.

Apart from that, the committee asked the ministry to check the feasibility for the introduction of a ferry service from Karachi to Chabahar.

On the current situation of job quotas for people of Balochistan in the departments attached to maritime affairs sector, the NA panel expressed its concern on the “low quota for Balochistan and Sindh, and a high quota for Punjab.”

The committee recommended that the quotas of Sindh and Balochistan “must be increased as maritime affairs are more relevant to littoral areas.”

The committee members including Azhar Qayyum Nahra, Seema Mohiuddin Jameeli, Kamal Uddin, Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon and Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, and senior officials concerned from the Maritime Affairs Ministry and its attached departments attended the meeting.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023