Pakistan has surrendered the Hajj quota to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) for the first time in 75 years due to the worsening economic and financial crisis and drying up of the government's foreign currency reserves.
Faced with a critical dollar shortage, Islamabad has failed in fulfilling its annual Islamic pilgrimage targets.
For the year 2023, Pakistan was given a Hajj quota of over 179,000 pilgrims. Of these, at least 50 per cent was allocated to the private Hajj operators and the remaining target was divided between the Regular Hajj Scheme of the government and the Sponsorship Scheme.
This year, Saudi officials allocated a quota of 179,000 pilgrims to Pakistan. A total of 89,605 Hajj pilgrims were set under the state-run scheme.
