4,068 Intending Hajj Pilgrims Airlifted To Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Augst,2016) : Around 4,068 intending pilgrims have so far been airlifted to Saudi Arabia from different cities of Pakistan after the start of pre-Hajj flights operation on August 4. "A month-long pre Hajj flights operation, which start on August 4, will complete on September 5 in a smooth manner," a spokesman of the Ministry of Religious Affairs told APP here Friday. "All the flights till August 15 will land at the Madina airport while after this the flights will land at the Jeddah airport," he added. Answering a question he said the Hajj flights from Sukkar, Multan, Quetta, Rahim Yar Khan and Sialkot will start from August 6, 11, 13, 23 and 25 respectively.

He said the government had made extensive arrangements to make the pilgrimage easy, comfortable and inexpensive. He said main control rooms had been established in Makkah and Madina to extend maximum facilities to Pakistani pilgrims.

He urged the intending pilgrims to immediately contact the control room, in case of any problem, as a good number of doctors, paramedical staff and Hajj 'Mouavineen' (Assistants) have been deployed to facilitate them. He also asked the pilgrims for offering special prayers for peace, progress and prosperity of Pakistan while performing Hajj rituals at the holy land. Under the operation, PIA will operate around 265 special Hajj flights from ten cities including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Sukkur, Multan and Rahim Yar Khan to transport the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

This year, as many as 1,43,000 pilgrims are going to Saudi Arabia for performing Hajj under both the government and private schemes according to data of the ministry of Religious Affairs.