ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned authorities on Monday against neglecting their duties related to this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, instructing them to provide the best possible facilities to pilgrims.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Hajj agreement 2025 this month, according to which 179,210 pilgrims from the South Asian country would perform the annual pilgrimage in 2025. The quota for pilgrims is divided equally between government and private schemes. 

Sharif chaired a review meeting on Hajj preparations in Islamabad on Monday during which he was briefed on measures taken by the government related to the pilgrimage so far. Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and other senior officials also participated in the meeting. 

“No negligence will be tolerated in preparations for Hajj 2025,” Sharif was quoted as saying by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). “All necessary assistance and facilities will be ensured for Hajj pilgrims in Hajj 2025.”

The Pakistani premier directed authorities to ensure transparency and merit in selecting Hajj assistants or moavineen, the statement said. He demanded a detailed briefing on Hajj assistants’ responsibilities and the process through which they are appointed. 

“Pilgrims should be provided with the best training facilities for Hajj 2025,” Sharif said, adding that special attention should be given to their accommodation, travel and other facilities. 

Pakistan’s Hajj Policy 2025 allows pilgrims to make payments in installments for the first time. Under this scheme, the first installment of Rs 200,000 ($717) is to be submitted with the application, the second installment of Rs 400,000 ($1,435) within 10 days of the balloting and the remaining amount is due by Feb.10 this year.

On Jan. 17, the Pakistani Religious Affairs Ministry began mandatory training sessions for Pakistani nationals selected to perform this year’s Hajj pilgrimage under the government scheme. It also launched the Pak Hajj 2025 mobile application, available for both Android and iPhone users, to assist pilgrims. 

Additionally, the government reduced airfare for pilgrims, lowering ticket prices to Rs 220,000 ($785.41) from last year’s Rs 234,000 ($835.39). Pakistan International Airlines, Saudi Airlines and private carriers will be responsible for transporting pilgrims this year.

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Sunday called on his supporters nationwide to mark Feb. 8 as a “Black Day” and hold protests on the one-year anniversary of last year’s general election that the jailed leader’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party says were rigged.

The national polls on Feb. 8, 2024, were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) deny the charges. The US House of Representatives, as well as European countries, have called on Islamabad to open a probe into the allegations — a move that Pakistan has thus far rejected.

Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“We will observe February 8th as a Black Day nationwide,” Khan wrote on social media platform X. “On this day, the mandate of the Pakistani people was blatantly stolen.”

The former prime minister directed Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the PTI is in power, to lead caravans from across the province for a public gathering in Peshawar, the provincial capital, on Feb. 8.

“I also instruct the legal community, including the Insaf Lawyers Forum and other (PTI) wings, to observe this day with vigorous protests,” he added. “Legislators, party officials and people from all walks of life must commemorate this attack on democracy as a Black Day.”

Khan was ousted from power in 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful top generals. The army denies it interferes in politics.

He has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power. Khan has either been acquitted or his sentences have been suspended in most cases. However, in the latest blow, Khan was handed a 14-year jail sentence in a land corruption case last week. 

Another pending case against Khan relates to charges of inciting supporters to attack military facilities to protest against his arrest on May 9, 2023.

His party is accused of leading several other violent protest rallies since the May 9 riots. 

All cases against Khan have been tried inside prison, away from the public or media eye, on security grounds.

The sentence in the land bribery case is a setback to nascent talks between the PTI and the government aimed at cooling political instability in the South Asian nation.