The Head/Principal Offices of all
Authorised Dealers in Foreign Exchange

Dear Sirs,

Remittances by Hajj Group Organizers for Hajj-2005

In accordance with the recently announced Hajj Policy-2005 of the Government, it has been decided to grant general permission to the Authorised Dealers for release of foreign exchange to the Hajj Group Organizers (HGOs) enlisted with Ministry of Religious Affairs, under Private Hajj Scheme for Hajj-2005 for remittances on account of accommodation charges and compulsory Hajj dues, to the concerned Saudi Arabian agencies.

Accordingly, Authorised Dealers may effect Hajj-2005 related remittances, as per the amounts/percentage of Hajj packages advised by the Ministry to each HGO individually, after proper verification of relevant documents and retention of evidence thereof in the following manner:

i) Letter in original from Ministry of Religious Affairs must be presented by HGOs to Authorised Dealers showing enlistment as HGO and allocation of the seats (Authorised Dealers effecting remittances must invariably endorse short details and full amounts of remittances allowed on the reverse of this letter retaining a copy for their record).

ii) Letter from Ministry of Religious Affairs must be presented by the HGOs to Authorised Dealers describing the detailed instructions to be followed by the HGO and amount and/or percentage of foreign exchange to be remitted to Saudi Arabia.

iii) List of Hajjis alongwith copies of relevant pages of Hajj passport i.e. first two pages & the page bearing visa (to be obtained before schedule departure dates).

iv) Copy of the Air Ticket (to be obtained before schedule departure dates).

Copies of the above documents shall be retained by Authorised Dealers and must be made available to the Inspection Team of State Bank of Pakistan as and when called for. Banks shall report these transactions in their exchange returns as per code(s) assigned by the Statistics Department, State Bank of Pakistan.

The above permission is only applicable for Hajj-2005 and Authorised Dealers must ensure that no remittances are allowed under this circular after the last day of Ziqa’ad, 1425 A.H.

Please bring the above instructions to the notice of your constituents.