Pakistani officials receive the first group of government-sponsored pilgrims from the country at the Haj terminal in Jeddah Saturday. — SG photo

 

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH — A Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Peshawar, the first Haj flight carrying pilgrims of the Pakistani government’s scheme, arrived at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah Saturday afternoon.

 

Khayyam Akbar, charge d'affaires of the Pakistan Embassy; Aftab Ahmed Khokhar, consul general of Pakistan in Jeddah; and Syed Abu Ahmad Akif, Pakistan’s director general for Haj, received the pilgrims who arrived on board flight SV795.

 

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Akif said all pilgrims were healthy and had expressed happiness with the facilities and arrangements made by the Saudi authorities at the airport’s Haj terminal.

 

All of them cleared immigration and departed to Makkah, he added.

 

Akif said 56,684 pilgrims on the government scheme would arrive on 191 flights from 10 gateways in Pakistan.

 

In addition, 86,684 will come from nearly 730 private Haj groups, taking the total number this year to 143,368.

 

This is down from last year’s total of 179,210 because of the Grand Mosque expansion project in Makkah, said Akif.

 

He said 108 buildings for the government pilgrims in Madinah at a rate of SR500 for each person over eight days.

This year 80 percent of Pakistani pilgrims will stay in Makkah’s central area and all on the government scheme will have access to the Mashair metro system, which runs between the Haj sites.

 

Catering has been arranged for all pilgrims throughout their stay and they will be provided with buses for inter-city journeys.