According to details, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that due to a low number of applications, the Hajj quota had to be returned.
The Ministry stated that the government scheme’s quota of 8,000 pilgrims has been returned for Hajj in Saudi Arabia, which marks the first time in Pakistan’s history that the Hajj quota has been returned.
The Ministry further explained that if the Hajj quota had not been returned, Pakistan would have had to pay $24 million for rental accommodations and other expenses.
The decision to return the Hajj quota was made by the federal cabinet as multiple Pakistanis were unable to apply due to the high cost of Hajj.
It should be noted that last year, Pakistan’s quota for Hajj was 179,000 individuals, while the current government scheme’s total quota is 79,600, and the sponsored scheme’s quota is 43,000.
Only 6,000 applications were received under the sponsored scheme, while over 30,000 applications were received in the regular scheme’s 43,000 quota. Overall, only over 36,000 applications were received in the total quota of 86,000.
