As soon as Lord Hutton had made his report, the BBC was accused of lack of credibility and three of its officials resigned: the director of the BBC, its general manager and the reporter who published the story of David Kelly, the scientist who committed suicide.

These actions shows that the officials respect themselves and their position, admit their mistakes and resign so that others may have the chance to right the wrongs. Their resignations were submitted because they had not done a satisfactory job.

Such situations of course differ from country to country. In our country, the Ministry of Pilgrimage put the blame for the stampede and deaths on pilgrims who are no longer alive to defend themselves.

The ministry said that illegal pilgrims were responsible for the accident. How did anyone know so quickly after the accident that there were illegal pilgrims among the dead? The bodies were not identified until the next day. If there were illegal pilgrims performing Haj, why had we not detected them and stopped them?

The order to establish a higher authority to develop Makkah and Madinah is a positive move but many questions remain. First, there is already a higher authority for Makkah and also one to develop Madinah.

Second, the holy mosque in Madinah will not need development for at least another 20 years.

Third, overcrowding, pushing each other and the dangers natural to peak time in Jamrat had existed for a long time. It was the main concern for those planning Haj security in addition to controlling the crowd, issuing permits and limiting the number of pilgrims from each country.

Fourth, the number of pilgrims killed in Jamrat four years ago was 118. Then it fell to 38 and last year the number was 14. This year, however, the official figure for the number of dead is 251.

This raised the question of what went wrong? That is a substantial increase. What is the role of the Ministry of Pilgrimage? The government mobilized all its resources so the Ministry of Pilgrimage could do the best possible job but still, a number of people died. Personally, I think it is time to privatize the services of the Ministry of Pilgrimage.

The government has already privatized many Haj-related services. What about the services involved in managing the crowds in the Jamrat area? The new services should provide the manpower to do the job, guide pilgrims and use a Jamrat card to organize timing and entry places as is done at sporting events. Only then can we hold those who are at fault accountable. The private sector would surely do its best to avoid any neglect or mistake.

Organizing pilgrims is our job; it should not be left to the pilgrims to organize themselves. The world will not excuse us after this tragedy. We might escape by giving excuses and justification, but in the future, the world might ask us to pay compensations as the Libyans have been asked in the Lockerbie case.

Organizing pilgrims is a difficult technical job. It is not fair to put the responsibility upon the Ministry of Pilgrimage alone. The organizing should be privatized with an independent department headed by the minister of pilgrimage.

The financing of the new department could come from fees paid by the pilgrims. The money could be used to organize pilgrims using not only the latest scientific advances in crowd control but also qualified personnel who can utilize those advances.