ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religious affairs minister Senator Talha Mahmood said on Tuesday the government would not provide free Hajj facility to politicians or influential personalities, adding that all pilgrims would be treated equally regardless of their social status.
Several governments in Pakistan have faced criticism in the past for arranging Hajj for lawmakers, officials and journalists on state expense.
The minister said, however, the ruling coalition wanted to make the Hajj arrangements “transparent” and would not tolerate any wrongdoings by officials involved in its preparations.
“I will not allow anyone to perform free Hajj,” he said during a parliamentary proceeding. “It will also be my attempt to make the process transparent for everyone to see.”
He said he was “personally supervising the Hajj operation” this year and was doing his best to improve the whole process.
“I am willing to discuss the [possibility of] reduced Hajj duration,” the minister told the lawmakers while referring to the reduction in the number of days under the official Hajj scheme. “But if you think that I should provide you [special] service [during the pilgrimage], that will not be possible.”
He added that everyone going under the government scheme would have “to live in tents like ordinary people.”
Senator Mahmood said he was trying to facilitate all pilgrims and was recently in Saudi Arabia to oversee Hajj arrangements made by his ministry for Pakistani nationals.