JEDDAH, 6 February 2004 — Saudi Arabia will invite some 750 close relatives of the Jamrat victims to perform Haj next year, Haj Minister Iyad Madani told a reception here. The reception was organized in honor of the delegates of foreign Haj missions.

“The Haj Ministry will invite three family members of each pilgrim who died in Sunday’s Jamrat stampede to perform Haj next year,” the minister told the ceremony at Makkah Inter.Continental.

Madani also announced that Saudi Arabia will deduct the number of overstayers who performed Haj without a permit from each country’s quota of Haj pilgrims next year. Overstayers have been partly blamed for Sunday’s crush that killed 251 pilgrims and injured more than 240 others.

In a related development, the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars yesterday endorsed plans ordered by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd for the upgrade of the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. The government announced a day after the stampede plans to expand the Jamrat in Mina where the pilgrims pelt stones at pillars representing the devil for four consecutive days. The plans include the construction of a four-tier bridge over the Jamrat at a cost of $533 million in order to boost its capacity to 160,000 people.

“After careful study the council has decided the importance of modernizing the Jamrat to ensure the safety of the pilgrims, and the government must make every effort for that,” said the council, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh.

Meanwhile, more than 700 pilgrims from Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan and Syria gathered at the office of the Tawafa organization for Arab pilgrims in Makkah yesterday, demanding the handover of their passports, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Haj Minister Madani and other top officials quickly intervened to solve the matter. “These pilgrims had not followed the instructions related to housing and transportation,” SPA said.

They were part of some 6,000 pilgrims who came late for Haj, the official agency said, adding that they were given food and transportation as well as accommodation at pilgrim reception center on the Makkah-Jeddah Expressway.

Six Pakistani Victims Buried

Six of the 36 Pakistani pilgrims killed in Sunday’s stampede have been buried, the Pakistani Consulate has said. They included Malik Imtiaz Ahmed, Muhammad Umar, Mumtaz Hussain Shah, Maqsood Ahmed and Muhammad Sabir and his son Muhammad Shakir.

The consulate’s Emergency Center says it is working round the clock to deal with necessary paperwork to ensure bodies can be released and buried. Relatives of the deceased needing help may contact Community Welfare Attaché Abdul Aziz Iqaili on 02-6691051 or his mobile phone, 052719025.