Technology is constantly evolving with every passing day and it is making lives easy for the betterment of the people. In a latest move, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has launched an SMS service for the people of Pakistan through which they can find out the authentic Hajj tour operator. One can send an SMS to 8331 to discover the Hajj tour operator and as a result, this initiative will provide protection to Hajj pilgrims from fake, bogus and unlicensed tour operator.
Relevant details of the tour operators can be obtained after sending an SMS to 8331.
Update for Hajj Pilgrimage going though Hajj Group Organizer
As per the spokesman of the ministry, a person, who will be going to perform the Hajj through Hajj Group Organizer (HGO), can send the first four digits of HGO’s enrollment to 8331.
In reply to the SMS, receiver will get all the information pertaining to the enrollment status of HGO. In addition, the name of the CEO will also be enclosed along with the address and the allocated quota. Subsequently, the ministry would be able to endorse its authenticity through this technique.
Those who will be going to perform Hajj pilgrimage can get in touch with the ministry on the following numbers to confirm the quota status of HGO:
051-9207579, 051-9205212, 051-9205427
Additionally, the ministry also urged the Hajj pilgrims to not ink any agreement with anyone before confirming their enrollment status. The ministry has placed an electronic monitoring system for the perusal of the Hajj pilgrims in case there is any query which needs to be resolved.
One thing was also cleared by the ministry and it was that if any person has performed Hajj in the last 7 years then he or she will not be eligible for Hajj 2017. The notion of this restriction is to encourage more people to perform the religious activity.
Nearly 180,000 people are going to perform Hajj this year
Recently, Director General of Hajj, Dr. Sajid Yousaf announced that 179,210 people from Pakistan are going to perform Hajj this year. Out of 179,210 people, 107,526 pilgrims would be performing Hajj through government scheme while the rest of the pilgrims will be going through private Hajj operators.