JEDDAH, 31 December 2005 — Saudi authorities have given top priority to the security of pilgrims to help them perform their religious rites with peace and tranquility. As many as 1,400 security officers will be deployed at the Jamrat bridge in Mina to control the crowds during the stoning ritual over four days of the Haj.

Lt. Gen. Saeed ibn Abdullah Al-Qahtani, director of public security, emphasized his department’s efforts to ensure the security and safety of the guests of God and their smooth transportation between the holy sites.

“We, being the official agency to provide security for pilgrims, do not rule out any incident and we have taken into consideration of all possibilities, including traffic jams, thefts, pickpockets, fires and even subversive acts, and we have made plans to deal with them,” Al-Qahtani said.

“But I would assure the guests of God that the government has taken all measures to ensure their safety and security,” he said, adding that more than 20,000 security personnel would take part in the Haj operation.

Al-Qahtani said Umrah pilgrims who overstay their visas to perform Haj were causing enormous problems to the authorities. Last year some 400,000 such pilgrims performed Haj, he pointed out. “We have a plan to stop overstayers from entering Makkah and other holy sites,” he added.

Al-Qahtani said his department had installed surveillance cameras in the Grand Mosque and in various parts of the holy sites to monitor thieves and pickpockets. “The Justice Ministry has established summary courts to quickly try and sentence such criminals,” he said.

Col. Adel Al-Muzayyen, commander of the forces at the Jamrat Bridge, said the number of officers to be deployed at Jamrat would be increased to 1,400 in order to prevent overcrowding and stampedes, especially on 12th Dul Hijjah when most pilgrims complete their pilgrimage rites and return to Makkah.

Al-Muzayyen said the main mission of the Jamrat force, which has become independent from other Haj forces, is to conduct rescue operations in case of stampedes.

He said the pedestrian road in Mina has been expanded to hold 400,000 pilgrims.

Makkah Governor and Chairman of the Central Haj Committee Prince Abdul Majeed will inspect today the arrangements for the Haj. He will inaugurate a charitable food outlet established in Muzdalifa by businessman Muhammad Al-Amoudi.

The kitchen, the second of its kind built by the businessman in the holy sites, will supply one million meals to pilgrims staying in Muzdalifa on the second night of the Haj. The three-floor facility, built at a cost of SR15 million, includes separate dining halls for men and women.

Two years ago, Amoudi established a charitable kitchen in Arafat, where nearly 2.5 million pilgrims stay in prayers till sunset on the second day of the Haj.

The Arafat kitchen has been expanded at a cost of SR40 million to supply two million meals, Amoudi said.

Nearly one million pilgrims have come from abroad for Haj this season.

Britain is sending 23,690 pilgrims this year. “We have issued visas for these pilgrims on time without any delay,” Fareej Al-Owaidi, charge d’affaires at the Saudi Embassy in London, told the Saudi Press Agency.

He said some Haj and Umrah service offices in Britain had cheated pilgrims by telling them that they could arrange more Haj visas for them in addition to the 23,690 that is the maximum number of visas allotted for all offices in Britain.

The Saudi Embassy in Berlin put the number of German pilgrims performing Haj this season at about 17,000. It said most of the German pilgrims are of Arab and Turkish origin.

“There is an increase of 2,000 pilgrims compared to last year,” SPA quoted an embassy official as saying.

A plane with 176 pilgrims left the southern Spanish port city of Malaga on Tuesday after a five-day delay after complications over the plane’s landing rights, officials said. After intervention from a Saudi diplomat and an imam in Spain, the air charter company gained landing rights from the Saudi authorities.

In another development, Talal Qutub, chairman of the Tawafa Organization for Iranian pilgrims, said that his organization has set up large television screens inside tents in Mina to give them an idea of the crowd at Jamrat.