ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia on Sunday contradicted a claim made by Special Representative to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Maulana Tahir Ashrafi about Hajj as an official of the Embassy of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia terming the announcement as ‘inaccurate’, saying that no decision had yet been taken to allow performance of Hajj this year.
“I would like to inform you about the statements of Maulana Tahir Ashrafi about Hajj [is] inaccurate. And that no official decision has been issued regarding the Hajj yet, and all that is raised are proposals that are still under study,” the official told Pakistan Today.
It merits mention here that Ashrafi had claimed in an interview that Saudi Arabia has allowed 60,000 people from across the world, including Pakistan, to perform Hajj this year.
The premier’s aide claimed that the government is in talks with Saudi officials regarding the number of people from Pakistan allowed to perform the sacred pilgrimage this year.
“People under the age of 18 and above 60 years won’t be eligible for Hajj,” Ashrafi said, revealing that those going for the pilgrimage will have to quarantine for three days.
Coronavirus vaccination is a must, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Minister for Religious Affairs Noorul Haq Qadri said that the government has reached out to the Saudi health ministry to allow people inoculated with the Chinese vaccine.
“The World Health Organisation has accepted and approved the vaccine as well,” he said. Earlier the Kingdom said that it would not allow people who got the Chinese vaccine to enter the country.
Last year, the kingdom hosted a downsized Hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime.
Only up to 10,000 Muslim residents of Saudi Arabia itself were allowed to take part, a far cry from the 2.5 million Muslims from around the world who participated in 2019.
In a relaxation of coronavirus curbs last October, Saudi Arabia opened the Grand Mosque of Makkah for prayers for the first time in seven months and partially resumed the Umrah pilgrimage.
