MINA, 21 January 2005 — This year’s smooth and incident-free Haj has dispelled all fears about the security situation at the holy sites.
This year Haj started when a lot of fears were being expressed particularly due to the Dec. 7 terrorist attack on the US Consulate in Jeddah, which claimed several lives.
Up till now the Saudi security system has proved itself to be very alert, effective and modern to curb any untoward incident.
At a press conference yesterday, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki explained the organization plans that were carried out at the Jamarat Bridge. Security personnel were able to control the huge crowds that began arriving since midnight over and under the bridge, he said.
Al-Turki said apart from thousands of buses more than 60,000 cars were mobilized to transport pilgrims from Arafat to Muzdalifa. Approximately 700,000 pilgrims chose to walk the distance.
Eqbal Habib, a Canadian who came to the Kingdom for the first time, had some weird ideas about Saudi system of functioning. But all his misconceptions were dispelled during his stay.
“I am going back with a feeling that Saudi Arabia is one of the safest places on Earth. And whatever is written in certain sections of the media is nothing but crap. I think they never come here, and write stories based on their pre-conceived ideas which are not true at all,” Eqbal said.
The smooth passage of yesterday’s ritual of stoning the Jamarat is another remarkable achievement for the Saudi security forces.
No untoward incident took place during the stoning ritual. This is the most dangerous phase of Haj and 252 people were crushed to death last year in a stampede at the Jamarat.
The safe and smooth stoning ritual could happen only due the huge security presence all over the city of Mina. About 50,000 security personnel and 10,000 reservists were deployed covering the entire valley. Security personnel were given extensive training in crowd management, said one official.
“A special training and orientation program was started for the security men much in advance and they were taken on a tour of all the places in the tent city to get aquainted with the area properly and to help pilgrims in performing the rituals,” said Ehsam Ghamsairi, deputed at the most critical place — Jamarat Bridge.
Elaborate arrangements were done to regulate the crowd coming from all directions. Yesterday morning as the group of pilgrims started moving toward the Jamarat, they were stopped at every 100 meters by the security personnel to avoid rush near Jamarat.
Policemen were seen forming a human chain at every 100 meters. They were separating the incoming and outgoing crowd on all the roads leading to the Jamarat.
“The security arrangements are excellent. You cannot do more than this,” said an Iranian pilgrim coming back after stoning the Jamarat.
Ali Hussaini from Tehran was very happy that he came out without any scratch after performing the ritual. “I had heard and seen a lot about the tragedy striking Jamarat almost every year. I was in fact scared, more so since my wife who is not well has come with me to perform Haj. But frankly speaking, the arrangements are astounding,” Hussaini said.
The way the small fire that hit Makkah on Monday could have been a disaster. But Civil Defense personnel were quick to respond and had four fire trucks on the scene within minutes of the fire breaking out. By the time fire was extinguished, seven fire trucks, three police units and three ambulances had reached the site. The fire was extinguished within 15 minutes.
“Due to the extraordinary security, medical and other services this HaJ will be remembered by one and all as exemplary,” said Mustafa Taha, an Egyptian.
