Islamabad: Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) has expressed its deep concerns over mismanagement and inefficiency of officials of the Ministry of Religious affairs (MRA) for failing to entertain the applications adequately for Haj. The MRA has returned applications along with passports of 5,000 persons who were not issued visas under the Open Haj Scheme. CRCP said that this mismanagement of the officials of MRA epitomizes neglect and inefficiencies of public institutions in general and MRA in particular in Pakistan. It said that this fiasco has caused a lot of inconvenience for the affected applicants who were staying in Islamabad to complete procedural requirements.

Secretary general, Mian Abrar Hafeez while explaining the issue said that 20,000 people had applied for Haj under Open Haj Scheme against quota of 15,000. The Ministry accepted all the applications. All the persons who had applied under this scheme were hopeful of receiving visas under the scheme. But they were refused visas on the eleventh hour. Rejection of application on the last moment has caused inconvenience for the applicants. These applicants had been staying in Islamabad for many days to complete the procedural requirements. The ministry's misconduct caused inconvenience, mental torture and loss of money of applicants, he said. The Prime Minister gave approval for accepting all the applications received by the ministry, however, the Saudi embassy refused to issue visas to the applicants in excess of the quota.

Mian Abrar Hafeez further said that some other irregularities have also occurred in handling the Haj applications. For instance, members of a family have been issued visas while others have been refused. Even in some cases, a wife has been issued visa while her husband's passport has been returned. Secretary general also said that the applicants have accused officials of taking bribe for accepting Haj application. There are also charges of misconduct on the part of the secretary of MRA. The government has also shown mismanagement in arranging flights for the applicants who have been issued visas. This shows the misconduct, inefficiency, complacency and corruption of officials and poor coordination with in the ministry.

Mian Hafeez emphasized that the concerned authorities should look into the matter urgently as to why these irregularities have been committed and who are responsible for creating difficulties for the applicants. He also said the affected applicants should be compensated for this inconvenience. The authorities should take strict action against the responsible officials. The authorities should also take measures to prevent such problems occur to the applicants for Haj in the future.