The National Assembly Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony was informed on Monday that a special committee consisting of 8 ministers has been formed for supervision, troubleshooting and implementation of the Hajj Policy, 2018. The committee met here under the chairpersonship of MNA Shagufta Jumani.
Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf informed the committee that cabinet has formed a special committee comprising 8 ministers for supervision, troubleshooting and implementation of Hajj Policy, 2018 with reference to observations of ministers and directions of the cabinet.
The committee was briefed about the visit of the official high-level delegation to pay homage to Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on behalf of people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan at Roza-e-Rasool (PBUH) from 8-14 December 2017. The committee discussed in detail the issue of the conversion of 500 service visa into Mujamla visas by the ministry.
The secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony clarified that Mujamla visa was a courtesy visa offered by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and was directly managed by the Saudi embassy in Islamabad. The ministry had no relevance/concern with issuance of Mujamla visa.
Hajj Organizers Association of Pakistan (HOAP) also briefed the committee about the concerns of the private tour operators. The committee recommended that the previous percentage of Hajj quota, which was 60:40, might be restored for Hajj 2018.
All the concerned officials assured the committee that all-out efforts would be made to facilitate the pilgrims during the ensuing Hajj-2018. The committee also considered the comprehensive report/implementation status of the recommendations of the previous meetings.