Indian Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahmad, who is on a visit to the Kingdom, said India will be making arrangements to issue machine-readable Haj Special Pass which will address the requirement of the Saudi authorities. In January, the Saudi government informed New Delhi that Indians undertaking Haj from this year would require normal passports as special documents issued for the annual pilgrimage will no longer be valid. It had asked India to issue visas for Haj pilgrims only on normal “international” passports and not on the Haj pilgrim “passes” as has been the practice till last year. E. Ahmad ensured that India is making efforts to implement this decision for Haj 2010. However, he emphasized that implementing the decision for the oncoming Haj 2009 would be practically very difficult since most of the Indian pilgrims come from village areas and for them to obtain international passports within a short span on time would be difficult. Deputy Haj Minister assured that the concerns from the Indian side would be taken up with appropriate authorities.
