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Pilgrims protest against poor Haj arrangements

Posted on: Tue November 23, 2010

RAWALPINDI: The pilgrims who arrived at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport here on Monday strongly protested against the government for what they termed its poor Haj arrangements.

Talking to The News they said the government had failed to provide them with basic facilities like toilets. According to them thousands of pilgrims had to remain in the open during their stay in Saudi Arabia.

The people who had come to the airport to receive the Hajis were baton-charged by the police when they protested against three-hour delay in the arrival of the PIA flight. As many as 80 pilgrims who came back on a flight of the Saudi Airlines could not find their luggage upon their arrival at the airport on Monday.

The PIA s first regular flight PK-3762 reached the Benazir Bhutto International Airport three hours late. Its scheduled time was 12 midnight but it reached at 3:10 am. The late arrival of the flight enraged the relatives of pilgrims who staged a protest. Police resorted to baton-charge to disperse the protesters.

As many as 80 pilgrims who arrived through a Saudi Airlines flight SV-724 at 1:30 pm faced an embarrassing situation when they found their luggage missing. The Saudi Airlines officials assured the protesting pilgrims that their luggage would be brought in a couple of days.

A large number of pilgrims at the airport said that the concerned authorities of the Saudi Airlines were not taking interest in bringing back their luggage from the Jeddah Airport.

The pilgrims strongly reacted against the lack of facilities during Haj in Saudi Arabia. Muhammad Furqan said they faced the worst situation in Saudi Arabia. According to him they were without shelter and toilets. The pilgrims had to walk more than ten miles daily as there were no transport facilities. He said that now they had lost their luggage at the Jeddah Airport.

Rehana Shaukat thanked Allah after reaching Islamabad. The government should hold an inquiry against officials responsible for mismanagement she said. Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Mubarak Shah told The News that there was not enough space at the airport for thousands of relatives of pilgrims so police dispersed the mob. Secondly people s rush at the airport was a great security risk.

He said post-Haj flights would continue for a month till December 22. Pakistan International Airlines spokesman Muhammad Latif admitted that flights were reaching late and relatives of pilgrims were suffering due to it.

He said the PIA flights were reaching late because of security checks at the Jeddah Airport. Pakistani passengers are facing clearance difficulties as management at the Jeddah Airport is taking a lot of time to clear them he said.

Courtesy : The News