A total of 67,000 Pakistani pilgrims are at risk of losing their opportunity to perform this year’s Haj pilgrimage after the government allegedly transferred millions of dollars in payments to the wrong Saudi account.

According to the Haj Organizers Association of Pakistan (HOAP), approximately 50 million Saudi Riyals were accidentally transferred to an Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Fund account instead of the official account of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Haj and Umrah, The Express Tribune reported.

As per a report by Middle East Eye (MEE), Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Chair of Pakistan’s Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, called the misdirected Haj payments one of Pakistan’s biggest scandals.

The misdirected funds caused private Haj operators to miss Saudi payment deadlines, severely disrupting pilgrim bookings. In response, Pakistan formed a special subcommittee to investigate, recover the funds, and work with Saudi officials to resolve the issue.

While 90,830 pilgrims were scheduled to travel under the private Haj scheme, only 23,620 will now be able to do so, according to ARY News.

The first Haj 2025 flight, carrying 393 pilgrims from Islamabad, is scheduled to depart on Tuesday, April 29.

In total, 50,500 Pakistani pilgrims will travel to Saudi Arabia under the Road to Makkah project for Haj 2025. Of these, 28,000 will depart from Islamabad and 22,500 from Karachi.