Islamabad (Staff Report/Agencies): Hajj Balloting under government scheme held in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Mister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noor-ul-Haq Qadri performed the balloting.
Result of the balloting has been uploaded on official web site of Ministry of Religious Affairs and can be checked through http://www.hajjinfo.org.
Applicants also be informed via SMS.
Speaking on the occasion, Qadri said one hundred eighty-four thousand two hundred and ten Pakistani pilgrims will perform Haj this year.
Of them, one hundred twelve thousand five hundred and twenty-six will perform Hajj under the government scheme and seventy-one thousand six hundred and eighty-four under private scheme.
He said that the intending pilgrims who have been applying for Hajj for the last three years will be allowed to perform Hajj without balloting. Similarly, the pilgrims above eighty years of age will also be allowed Hajj without balloting.
Noorul Haq Qadri said a resolutionary step this year is that Saudi Crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman has announced to include Pakistani Hajis in the Road to Mecca programme, under which the pilgrims will be provided customs clearance and immigration facility at Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar airports, Radio Pakistan reported.
He said a high level Saudi delegation will visit Pakistan next month to work out modalities of the scheme.
Two hundred sixteen thousand six hundred and twenty three people had applied for Hajj this year.
