The Ministry of Religious Affairs has announced the introduction of a short two-day Hajj.
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs was held in which Caretaker Minister of Religious Affairs Aneeq Ahmed said these time Hajj arrangements were being made ahead of time.
He said the duration of Hajj would be 18 to 20 days.
“The short Hajj would be decided by the pilgrims themselves and the duration of the short Hajj will be from 18 to 30 days,” he said.
The caretaker minister of religious affairs said the Saudi government had offered to give Pakistanis official residences.
“If we give all the pilgrims to the Saudi government, they are also ready to make some concessions,” the caretaker minister of religious affairs.
He said the Saudi government was planning to increase the number of Hajj pilgrims to 10 million.
“Currently the Road to Makkah programme is running only from Islamabad. The Saudi government has decided to include Karachi in the Road to Makkah programme in the next Hajj season. Yes, efforts are underway to include Lahore in the Road to Makkah programme,” Aneeq Ahmed said.
It should be noted that two days before his visit to Saudi Arabia, Aneeq Ahmed met the minister of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia, Dr Tawfiq al-Rabiyyah, where he discussed the arrangements for Hajj for the next year.