Dashed Pakistani Hajj Dreams

Some 3,000 Pakistanis are going to miss hajj this year as officials and tour operators trade accusations. (IOL photo)

"I had submitted the required amount and all other details well within time, but I have not so far gotten my passport to travel for hajj," Akram Hussein told IslamOnline.net.

"We were all set to go to perform hajj but the poor performance of the ministry has shattered our dreams."

Some 3,000 Pakistanis are expected to miss hajj this year because they have not received the ministry's special hajj passport.

"The ministry is 110 percent responsible for this mess. It has shattered our life-time dream," fumes Akram, who joined hundreds in protesting against the mismanagement.

"I had started buying things, which I may need during hajj, from last month."

But a shocked Akram did not find his name in the final list of the travelling pilgrims.

"I was so happy when I saw my name in the list of lucky ones. I was counting every single day, but it seems I will stay behind this time too," he said, holding back his tears.

Around 150,000 Pakistanis are going to perform hajj this year.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim — who can financially afford the trip — must perform hajj at least once in a lifetime.

Traded Accusations

The religious affairs ministry and tour operators traded accusations over the hajj mishap.

"There is B-Code requirement from Saudi government, which must be followed by all the tour operators but these tour operators submit requirements for this Code on November 27, and it was too late," the ministry secretary Malik Najeebullah told IOL.

He confirmed his ministry has accepted some details after the deadline.

"Certainly there is a deadline for submission of all the details but we accepted that even after the deadline was over, just because the hajjis should not suffer.

"We could have rejected that (submission of details), but ultimately hajjis would suffer."

A ministry official admitted some flaws on their part.

"They had sent us the details of the intended hajjis, who were travelling through them," he told IOL, requesting anonymity.

"But the private hajj tour operators are equally responsible for this mismanagement," he said, without elaborating.

But hajj tour operators refuted the ministry's claim and attempt to blame the problem on them.

"This is totally false," Yehya Polani, a former president of All Pakistan Travel Agents Association, told IOL.

"Every year the ministry gives a deadline to the private tour operators for submission of amount and details for the passport. And this year too, the tour operators had to meet the deadline," he insisted.

"And if still the tour operators did not submit the applications and details for passports of these hajjis (whose passports have not been issued), why did the ministry accept them (applications) after the stipulated date.

"It's simply their fault. Tour operators should not be blamed for the mess, which they never created," stressed Polani, who has been in the hajj tour business for 35 years.

He accused ministry officials of inefficiency and malpractice.

"This is not the first time. Every year, the hajjis face a great deal of hardships at the hands of ministry officials. They are highly inefficient and involved in malpractice," Polani charged.

"They are trying to save their backs by putting the blame on tour operators."

The Saudi embassy denied any delay on its part.

"If we receive a passport from the ministry, we issue the visa within a day or two," an embassy official told IOL.

The traded accusations mean absolutely nothing to Akram, who has lost his hope of performing the lifetime spiritual journey of hajj because of this mismanagement.

"All I know is that I'm not to going to perform hajj this year too. I cannot think beyond that. Who can guarantee that I will be alive next year."