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File picture: Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims make their way to cast stones at a pillar symbolising the stoning of Satan, in a ritual called "Jamarat," the last rite of the annual Haj, on the first day of Eid Al Adha, in Mina near the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015 Image Credit: AP

Peshawar: Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Haj has launched an SMS service for the help of prospective Haj pilgrims to verify authenticity of private tour operators.

“The SMS service [8331] will provide details about any private Haj tour operator and save people from being cheated in the name of cheap Haj services,” said Director Media Religious Affairs Ministry, Imran Siddique.

Addressing a Media Awareness Workshop, jointly organised by Ministry of Religious Affairs and Haj Organisations of Pakistan (HOP), Siddique said a number of people are fooled by fake tour operators who cheat intending pilgrims by making fake promises of organising cheap Haj.

This year, he said, the SMS service is launched through which authenticity of every private Haj tour operation can be verified by sending his enrolment number at 8331.

He said there are around 798 private tour operators registered with Religious Ministry and only these are authorised to send pilgrims for Haj.

All those who were not registered with the ministry are fake groups and people should use this SMS service for verification, he reiterated.

The senior official also informed that Religious Ministry had launched five Apps for facilitation of pilgrims. These five apps, he continued, provided guidelines about performance of Haj, location guidance at Mina and relevant supplications.

Pilgrims can easily download these apps on both android and apple phones and benefit from guidance provided.