Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has launched an official inquiry into why Pakistan failed to utilize the private Hajj quota allocated for 2025, citing non-compliance with Saudi Arabia’s regulations. The decision came through a notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Thursday.
Under the Hajj Agreement 2025 signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in January, a total of 179,210 pilgrims from Pakistan were scheduled to perform Hajj this year, with the quota split equally between government-sponsored and private schemes.
However, Pakistan fell short in utilizing its full share under the private Hajj scheme, prompting the prime minister to form a three-member investigation committee to look into the lapse.
The panel will be led by the Cabinet Division secretary and also includes the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman and the Gilgit-Baltistan chief secretary.
According to the Cabinet Division’s notification, the committee has been tasked with determining why the revised 2025 policy issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not properly implemented by Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony in coordination with private Hajj operators.
It will also assess whether sufficient steps were taken by the ministry to ensure all required formalities were completed by the Saudi-designated deadline. The committee will identify who was responsible for the oversight, which, as the notification stated, “deprived thousands of Pakistani pilgrims of the opportunity to perform Hajj in 2025.”
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