The religious affairs ministry on Tuesday decided to return the amount deposited by the successful applicants, who had registered themselves for the government’s Hajj scheme this year and convened an emergency meeting of the Hajj formulation committee to discuss the mechanism.
The decision comes after Saudi Arabia’s announcement of holding Hajj 2020 with “a very limited number” pilgrims from among those already residing in the kingdom, Imran Siddiqui, the ministry spokesperson, said in a statement.
Before the emergence of coronavirus, a total 179,210 Pakistanis had registered themselves to perform Hajj this year. They included 107,526 intending pilgrims under the government scheme and 71,684 under the private scheme.
“An emergency meeting has been called to review the latest development during which the mechanism for the return of payments to those who had registered themselves for the government’s Hajj scheme would be discussed,” spokesperson, Siddiqui said.
He said that Saudi Minister for Hajj and Umrah Dr Mohammad Saleh bin Taher Benten telephoned his Pakistani counterpart, Pir Noorul Haq Qadri to inform him about the Kingdom’s decision to hold Hajj with a very limited number of pilgrims.
The Saudi government announced that it would bar arrivals from abroad for the Hajj and Siddiqui said that Pakistani envoy, diplomatic officials and the Pakistan Hajj Directorate in the kingdom would represent the country this year.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it will allow around 1,000 pilgrims residing in the kingdom to perform Hajj this year, a minister said on Tuesday, after it announced the ritual would be scaled back due to coronavirus.
“The number of pilgrims will be around 1,000, maybe less, maybe a little more,” Hajj Minister Mohammad Benten told reporters.
“The number won’t be in tens or hundreds of thousands” this year, he added.
The pilgrimage, scheduled for the end of July, will be limited to those below 65 years of age and with no chronic illnesses, Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah said.
The pilgrims will be tested for coronavirus before arriving in the holy city of Makkah and will be required to quarantine at home after the ritual, Rabiah added.
Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it would hold a “very limited” Hajj this year, as it moves to curb the biggest coronavirus outbreak in the Gulf.
It said the ritual will be open to people of various nationalities already in the kingdom.
The decision marks the first time in Saudi Arabia’s modern history that Muslims outside the kingdom have been barred from performing Hajj, which last year drew 2.5 million pilgrims.
