Hajj balloting put on hold owing to SHC stay order

KARACHI: The ministry of religious affairs on Friday postponed the Hajj balloting in compliance with a Sindh High Court’s stay order.

The SHC Sukkur bench had granted a stay order against the balloting on a petition challenging the new Hajj policy.

Petitioner Mufti Abdul Majid approached the court, contending that some of conditions of the new Hajj policy were un-Islamic and not in line with Sharia.

He explained that the New Hajj policy prevented people from performing the pilgrimage more than one time within a certain period of time, which was against the Sharia.

The ministry in a high-level meeting today announced to postpone the draw following the high court’s injunction. A new date for the Hajj balloting would be announced later, it said.

It, however, decided to approach the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.

The balloting for successful applicants was scheduled to be held on January 26 (today).

Earlier, a spokesperson for the ministry had said a total of  179,210 Pakistanis would perform Hajj this year.

This included 120,000 pilgrims under government scheme, while 59,210 will be taken under private Hajj scheme.

He said Hajj package for north region will be 280,000 while it will be 270,000 for south region.

The spokesperson said that this time a quota of 10,000 has been fixed for those who have been applying for the Hajj for last three years, but remained unsuccessful.