179,000 Pakistani pilgrims to perform Hajj 2025

Cairo: Around 179,000 Pakistani pilgrims are expected to perform this year's annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage due in early June in Saudi Arabia, according to Pakistani media.

The first Hajj flight is scheduled to depart to Saudi Arabia on May 1, Pakistani television Samaa reported, citing sources from the country's Ministry of Religious Affairs.

The Hajj flights will continue for 30 days, with the last departing on May 30, the sources added.

Five airlines, including Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Saudi Airlines, will participate in the Hajj operation.

A total of 179,210 pilgrims from Pakistan are set to undertake the Hajj rites in and around the Saudi holy city of Mecca.

Pakistan is among several countries covered by a Saudi project offering pilgrimage-associated facilities.

Officially dubbed the “Road to Mecca” Initiative, the scheme also benefits pilgrims from Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco, Bangladesh, Turkey and Cote d’Ivoire.

In 2018, the Saudi Interior Ministry relaunched the “Mecca Route” Initiative that gives pilgrims from several countries access to facilities. The initiative kicked off on a trial basis a year earlier.

The facilities include issuance of electronic visas at home, finalising passport procedures as well as tagging and sorting out luggage at the departure airports.

On arrival in Saudi Arabia, those pilgrims head directly to their residences in Mecca and Medina while their luggage are delivered right to their residences.

Hajj is one of Islam’s five obligatory duties. Muslims, who can physically and financially afford Hajj, have to perform it at least once in a lifetime.