Ministry of Religious Affairs releases Hajj policy 2025

ISLAMABAD: Minister of Religious Affairs Chaudhry Salik Hussain held a press conference here today to announce the Hajj policy 2025.

“The best arrangements have been made for Hajj 2025,” the minister said, adding that preference will be given to those who are going for Hajj for the first time. Applications for Hajj can be submitted from November 18 to December 3. “Hajj lottery will be held on December 6,” Salik Hussain said.

Hajj quota under government and private scheme is 50 per cent each, Salik Hussain said. The remaining quota of the sponsored scheme will be transferred to general pilgrims. “People suffering from sick and infectious diseases will not be able to go for Hajj. Children under 12 years of age are not allowed to perform Hajj,” the minister said.

Pakistan’s Hajj quota for 2025 would be 179,210, equally divided among government and private schemes. The minister said that out of these, 89,605 seats have been allocated for public and private Hajj schemes, 5,000 seats will be reserved in the sponsorship scheme in the government Hajj scheme, and 30,000 seats will be allocated for sponsorship scheme in private Hajj scheme.

The government sponsorship scheme will be on first come first served basis and they will be exempted from lottery. To join the sponsorship scheme, it will be necessary to send foreign exchange through banking channel, said the Federal Minister of Religious Affairs.

The foreign exchange collected through the sponsorship scheme will be used only for the payment of Hajj-related expenses in Saudi Arabia, the minister said.

The traditional long package for the official Hajj scheme will cover 38 to 42 days and the short package will cover 20 to 25 days. As per Saudi recommendations, each organised private Hajj group will have at least 2,000 pilgrims.

The expenses of the official Hajj scheme for Haj 2025 are expected to be between Rs 1.075 million to Rs 1.175 million. In additional facilities, the amount of sacrifice is determined at Rs 55,000. Those who cannot pay the lump sum amount can pay in installments, the minister said. Furthermore, Rs 2 million will be given to the families of those pilgrims who died during Hajj.

For the facility of double bed and triple bed accommodation in Makkah, an additional deposit of Rs 220,000 and Rs 75,000, respectively, will be required per applicant.

For the government scheme, the first installment of Hajj dues of Rs 200,000 will have to be submitted along with the Hajj application, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs said, adding that an additional deposit of Rs 400,000 must be made within 10 days of the draw.

The remaining amount will be required to be deposited during February 1-10, 2025.

No deduction will be made in case of withdrawal of money before the last date of receipt of applications, the minister said, adding that in case of withdrawing the first installment after the draw, there will be a deduction of Rs 50,000.

In case of non-submission of the third installment, there will be a deduction of Rs 200,000, and the remaining amount will not be reimbursed in case of not travelling after February 10. In case of death of the applicant, the above deduction will not be applicable.

Earlier this month, on November 5, the federal cabinet had approved the Hajj Policy 2025 with the recommendation of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony.

Also read: Government mulls Hajj payment installment plan