Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Talha Mehmood, made an important announcement on Sunday regarding the collection of expenses for Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. Starting from next year, all expenses for Haj will be collected in US dollars instead of Pakistani rupees. Talha congratulated the 160,000 Pakistani pilgrims who had recently performed Haj and praised the efforts of Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman.
During a press conference after Hajj, Talha expressed his satisfaction that no negative incidents were reported during the Hajj pilgrimage in Jamarat, and most pilgrims seemed happy with the arrangements. He revealed that the Hajj quota for 2024 had been increased to over 179,000.
Talha praised the Saudi government for their excellent arrangements and personally visited the hotels where Pakistani Hajis stayed. He mentioned that the Pakistani mission provided maximum assistance to Pakistani pilgrims during Hajj. He also emphasized his decision to perform Hajj as an ordinary person rather than as a guest of the state, showing his dedication to understanding and addressing the problems faced by Hajj pilgrims.
The minister clarified that he did not allow anyone to perform Hajj free of cost and emphasized that this practice would not be allowed in the future. He personally paid for his own Hajj expenses as a minister and stayed with other Pakistani Hajis to perform the pilgrimage.
