The Pakistani government has established a Haj policy, in the spirit of transparency and image-building for the country, a senior official has said. Addressing a press conference at the Pakistani consulate here on Thursday, Agha Sarwar Raza Qazilbash, Secretary of Pakistan's Ministry of Religious Affairs and Haj, said that the new policy has clear instructions about Haj group organizers, adding that they have been divided into five categories. Under Category A, the agent will deposit Pakistani Rs500 million in a bank as a guarantee. Categories B, C, D, and E will deposit 400, 300, 200 and 100 million rupees respectively. The Haj policy stipulates the suspension of the license of those agents who fail to follow the regulations. It also makes clear that Haj agents will be thoroughly vetted by security agencies in order to prevent a repetition of recent incidents in which a family of six was held in prison as a result of being issued with chappals which contained heroin, and, in another case, in which 800 Pakistani pilgrims who had been duped were stranded in Jeddah as a result of being issued with bogus return air tickets. This year 159,647 Pakistani pilgrims will perform Haj, Qazilba sh said. The number of pilgrims under the government scheme is 80,000. The Haj directorate shall engage only 200 buildings of which 75 percent have already been reserved. The buildings, which accommodate at least 200 pilgrims, are at a distance of 2,000 meters from the Grand Mosque, but Qazilbash said that pilgrims will be provided with shuttle service four times daily, with Maghreb and Isha having only one service. All accommodation will be thoroughly vetted to ensure the comfort of the pilgrims. According to Qazilbash, PIA and Saudi Airlines will airlift pilgrims from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Sialkot and Rahim Yar Khan. The airports at these cities will be used for direct flights to and from Jeddah and Madina. “The ministry this year has given high priority to the training of pilgrims. Master trainers from the teaching faculties of Arabic and Islamic Studies will, on a voluntary basis, conduct training programs in which the pilgrims will learn about Haj rites. The training will be conducted in special Haj camps,” said Qazilbash. The pilgrims will be allowed to bring home a 10-liter can of Zamzam water free of cost. Regarding the issue of swine flu and the recent announcement that the Saudi government is advising pregnant women and the elderly to skip Haj this year, Qazilbash said, “We shall gladly follow the instructions of the Saudi authorities, but the difficulty is that most of the pilgrims in Pakistan come for Haj after the age of 50. The ministry is trying to make people aware of the need to perform Haj at a younger age, but it will take some time for this to be achieved.”
