Ministry includes Qurbani’s expenses in Hajj package: Senator Talha

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Senator Muhammad Talha Mahmood on Sunday announced that the ministry would bear the expenses of Qurbani for the pilgrims performing Hajj on government scheme.

Addressing a press conference accompanied with Secretary Religious Affairs Dr. Aftab Akbar Durrani here in the Ministry, he said Qurbani had been included in the same package as the decision was made to provide a sigh of relief to the intending pilgrims performing the most expensive Hajj of the history.

The minister informed that the pilgrims performing Hajj on government scheme would be provided a coupon of Qurani by the Director General Hajj Abdul Wahab Soomro before the start of Hajj days in Saudi Arabia without charging any extra money.

It is worth mentioning here that earlier, the expenses of Qurani were not included in the exiting Hajj package, in fact, the ministry had some savings that were being used for pilgrims’ ease and comforts.

Putting a question mark on the Hajj expenses of 2019, he said after passing through a period of four years, the ministry was hiring buildings and airlines services on a low cost despite inflation in the international market adding that he had asked the ministry to prepare a comparative study of last a couple of years Hajj expenses and promised to make it public.

Highlighting the main factors of increase in Hajj expense, the minister said due to surge in dollars price and depreciation in Pakistan’s rupee, the Hajj expenses were risen in the country.

Regarding mandatory Hajj training, he mentioned that it was compulsory for all intending pilgrims but those who could not attend it due to some serious issues, no hurdle would be placed on their way to pilgrimage.

Senator Talha said as many as 26,000 pilgrims would take benefits of ‘Road to Makkah’ project as their immigration process would be completed at the Islamabad International Airport.

He was of the view that this facility should be at other airports of the country like Lahore, Karachi and Multan but due to time constraints, the radius of this project could not be expanded at these airports.

He expressed his dismay over the purchase of medicines for the intending pilgrims saying that if he was in chair before the tender of medicines, he could have saved almost Rs. 250 million hard-earned money of the pilgrims.

He said he had good contacts in the pharmaceutical industry and he would have managed to get all these medicines in the wake of charity or donation from the former Vice Chairman of Pharmaceutical Industry Shazaib as he personally talked to him on the matter.

On this occasion, Senator Talha also donated Rs. 200,000 to the deceased video journalist of private news channel Abdus Salam Soomro who breathed his last in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences on Saturday.

The journalists of various sections of media during the press conference apprised the minister about the video journalist’s all of a sudden death caused by the hypertension and his family’s pathetic financial condition. On which, Senator Talha announced the discussed financial aid and handed over the cash to the video journalists association representative in the presence of other media persons for the deceased family.

Besides offering condolence, he also offered Fateha for the departed soul and prayed to Allah Almighty to rest him in the eternal peace and sought patience for the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss with equanimity.