Ghoullamallah:“7,200 applicants picked out in drawing lots for 2013 Hadj pilgrimage will be excluded”

Algerian Religious Affairs Minister BouabdallahGhoulamallah has stated that thousands of those candidates who had made it in the drawing lots for the 2013 Hadj pilgrimage to the holy places of Islam in Saudi Arabia are liable to be written off from the lists after a thorough assessment study by the relevant religious authorities stressing that it’s a case of absolute necessity.

He said that the exclusion measure concerned a total of 7,200 applicants who had vied for this year’s Hadj session because of the overall maximum quota of 27,800 pilgrims earmarked by the Saudi government for Algeria should not be exceeded for various reasons.

The Minister explained to this effect that each Muslim country had been allotted by the Saudi authorities a specific quota of pilgrims allowed to accomplish the Hadj ritual because of security, transport and accommodation concerns in Mecca and Medina.

MrGhoulamallah’s announcement is at variance with a previous statement made earlier this week by the general Manager of the national office of the Hadj and Omra, CheikhBerbara, who said that the exclusion would not affect those who had been picked out in this year’s drawing lots.

The Religious Affairs Minister also pointed out that those who would be scrapped from the rosters should have to put in their namesonce again in next year’s drawing lots in order to secure a berth for the 2014 pilgrimage to the holy places of Islam.