‘Free SIM with internet package’ for Pakistani Haj pilgrims

Aneeq Ahmed, the caretaker Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony of the Punjab Government, said on Tuesday that his government will provide free-of-cost mobile SIM cards with roaming internet packages to nationals performing Haj in 2024.

In an interview with a private news channel, the caretaker minister mentioned that the abayas would also be given to female pilgrims, complete with Pakistani flags on the backside, and 13kg suitcases would be provided to all pilgrims.

The caretaker government has reduced the Haj cost by around Rs100,000, which has been described by the minister as a “historic step” taken by the coalition, in addition to an additional Rs50,000 being slashed and the money being refunded to the individuals in their bank accounts by the government.

A new mobile application is being created to support pilgrims with navigational assistance and enables continuous communication between pilgrims and relevant officials through the use of a mobile application to provide navigational support.

As of now, the application will be available in English and Urdu, but other regional languages will be included later on, he explained, adding that the app would also provide digital training programmes to pilgrims on a regular basis.

Furthermore, he disclosed that the Haj ministry, with the collaboration of the education ministry, has planned to convert city mosques into schools in order to enroll out-of-school children, a project in which the mosque’s imams would play an important role in overseeing the process.

In an interview with the minister, the minister said that mosques will play a crucial role in every city area as community centers, and that imams would be responsible for resolving community issues after the prayers are offered.

According to him, the haj ministry is actively taking on board all four provinces and is working to ensure that mosques are connected to each other.

During the course of describing another project, the minister stated that his ministry has, with the collaboration of the health ministry, been working on a project that will involve medical clinics being integrated into mosques, as well as mosques becoming medical clinics.

That news provided by timenews.