ISLAMABAD, Friday, July 17, 2025 : Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf on Friday addressed recent misunderstandings stemming from his earlier remarks about Pakistani pilgrims, clarifying that there is no indication whatsoever of thousands of Zaireen being missing abroad.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that his previous comments were misinterpreted and stressed that the issue at hand relates to outdated manual records that have yet to be fully digitized – not to any mass disappearance of pilgrims.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In a statement issued to clear the air, the minister said his earlier reference to \u201c40,000 Zaireen\u201d was not meant to imply mass disappearances. \u201cThe reality is that older, paper-based records have not yet been fully integrated into our central digital registry,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
To ensure the safety and facilitation of pilgrims, the ministry has introduced a modern online registration and monitoring system, which issues QR code-based e-cards to pilgrims and group organizers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis system will provide immediate access to verified information for both families and the government,\u201d he said, noting that lists of pilgrims will now be shared in real-time with the authorities in Iran, Iraq, and Syria – the primary destinations for Zaireen.<\/p>\n
The minister urged all tour operators and pilgrims to register their complete details on the official portal by August 31, 2025, to avoid being placed in an “incomplete list.”<\/p>\n
\u201cThis step will eliminate confusion and misinformation, allowing us to better serve citizens and maintain full transparency,\u201d he added, calling on the media and civil society to help dispel unfounded speculations.<\/p>\n
Reaffirming the government\u2019s commitment, Sardar Yousaf said: \u201cThe well-being of Pakistani citizens travelling abroad remains our top priority. Let\u2019s work together to ensure the success of this digital system and demonstrate to the world that Pakistan is responsibly using modern technology for transparent, secure pilgrim management.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD, Friday, July 17, 2025 : Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf on Friday addressed recent misunderstandings stemming from his earlier remarks about Pakistani pilgrims, clarifying that there is no indication whatsoever of thousands of Zaireen being missing abroad. He emphasized that his previous comments were misinterpreted and stressed that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-religious-diplomacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thediplomat.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}