Srinagar: Around 2000 Hajj aspirants from J&K aged over 65 years have become non-eligible for this year’s pilgrimage due to an age-bar set by the Saudi government.
The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah Saturday announced that one million pilgrims, both foreign and domestic, will perform Hajj this year. The ministry, however, said that this year’s Hajj is open to those who are under 65 years of age, and have received the main Covid-19 vaccinations approved by the Saudi Ministry of Health.
“Pilgrims coming from outside the Kingdom are required to submit a negative Covid-19 Rt-PCR test result performed within 72 hours of the time of departure to the Kingdom,” reads the Hajj announcement note issued by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah at Makkah.
Local news agency KNO quoted J&K Executive Hajj Officer Dr Abdul Salaam Mir as saying that around 12,000 applications were received by the Hajj office J&K this year. “Now that the Saudi government has set an age-limit of below 65-years, some 2000 pilgrims won’t be eligible for the Hajj this year,” he said. “We have almost 2000 applications from the pilgrims who are above 65 years of age.”
He said that most probably all of the remaining 10,000 pilgrims may become entitled for the Hajj 2022 depending on the final quota distribution by the Government of India. “Things will become clearer within a couple of days,” Dr Mir said.
He said from their end, all the preparations have been made and now that the announcement has been made for Hajj 2022, they will speed up the process that includes submitting money, passports and other relevant documents.
