Pakistan has decided to return more than 21,000 Hajj quota to Saudi Arabia under the government scheme, as the number of applicants was much lower than expected, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Tuesday.

According to sources, only 4,000 applications were received against the quota of 25,000 in the Government Sponsorship Hajj Scheme, which offers subsidized rates and dollars for the pilgrimage.

The government is not ready to give the quota to 5,600 Hajj pilgrims under the regular scheme, which had a total quota of 69,438.

Out of these, 63,805 were selected in a lottery, while 5,633 were declared unsuccessful and refunded their money. A total of Rs6 billion were returned to unsuccessful applicants for the upcoming Hajj.