Saudi Arabia reintroduces the pre-COVID quota for Pakistan, removes age limit

Saudi Arabia has restored the pre-COVID quota for Pakistan and removed the age restrictions much to the relief of the people. Due to COVID restrictions, a restriction had been placed on the pilgrims who were over the age of 65 and not vaccinated. A negative test result was also mandatory.

Now as per the latest development, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Mufti Abdul Shakoor, received an order from the Saudi authorities under which the previous quota of 179,210 pilgrims has been reinstated and the age limit of 65 years has been eliminated.

This development has come after three years of restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Every year millions of people go to perform Hajj however during these three years, under the pandemic restrictions, the number of the pilgrims were reduced drastically. In 2019, before the pandemic, about 2.5 million people went for Hajj. In 2022, nearly 900,000 pilgrims, including 780,000 from abroad, were allowed in to perform Hajj in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

Additionally, the Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq al-Rabi’ah, has said that delegations from 19 countries including Pakistan, Turkey, India and Iran signed Hajj agreements. These agreements include the number of pilgrims, their arrival and departure, and the services offered to them.

This year, Hajj is supposed to happen in the month of June and final policies regarding Hajj 2023 will be disclosed after the approval of the federal cabinet. The Hajj applications are expected to open in February this year however nothing is confirmed as of now.