Govt imposes new restrictions on Hajj pilgrims

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ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan has issued a notification imposing new restrictions on the future Hajj pilgrims under which the pilgrims will have to choose from only three airlines to travel to Saudi Arabia, Geo News reported.

The pilgrims can no longer choose freely from any national or international airline for traveling to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of performing Hajj other than the three specified by the government. These are PIA, Saudi Airlines and Shaheen Airlines.

The government has issued orders that the pilgrims having tickets of airlines other than the above three be stopped from traveling.

This restriction puts a question mark on the prospect of thousands of Hujaj who have already bought tickets from other airliners including Khaleej Airlines will travel to their destination.

It is a well-known fact that PIA does not have enough planes while limited number of seats are available with Shaheen Air and Saudi Airlines. So this year too, the picture does not look very promising for the Hajj pilgrims.