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Summary
Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi on Friday said that if the Parliament allows, Hajj could be privatized. Replying to queries in a session of Standing Committee for Religious Affairs being chaired by Chairman Maulana Qasim, Hamid said that 1,000 Riyals are being returned to each pilgrim, and added that the current envoy to Saudi had been called back some 5 years ago on the charges of corruption. The current envoy wants to be the chairman of the hiring committee; assembly members belonging to Fata made him ambassador. Kazmi said that his inexperience of the ministry might be the cause of Hajj fiasco, adding that, if the Parliament allows, Hajj could be privatized. An official letter by Sardar Latif Khan Khosa advocate was presented before the committee, which reads that the lawyers sought Rs5.5million from Kazmi to defend his case. However, the minister denied having given any fee. On the other hand, Islamabad Civil Court has handed over Joint secretary of Ministry of Religious affairs Raja Aftab Islam on a 3 day physical remand to the FIA for his alleged involvement in Hajj corruption. While Raja Aftab Islam says that he is innocent and he would prove his innocence in the court. On Friday he was presented before the court of Senior Civil Judge Islamabad Kamran Basharat Mufti. The court asked the FIA investigating team as to what sort of evidence they had gathered from Raja Aftab linking him to the corruption. On this the FIA sought time from the judge till next hearing. President and Prime Minister had taken strict notice of Hajj corruption scandal and had ordered a transparent probe into the incident. In the first phase FIA had arrested former DG Hajj after which now Joint secretary Ministry of Religious Affairs has been taken into custody.On Thursday, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) expanding the investigations of Hajj scam worth billions of rupees had arrested Joint Secretary of Ministry of Religious Affairs, Raja Aftab-ul-Islam.
