MAKKAH, 13 February 2003 — Saudi Arabia has no information indicating planned Al-Qaeda attacks against the country, Interior Minister Prince Naif stated yesterday.
“We don’t have any reliable information on this matter,” he said when asked about a CIA warning that Al-Qaeda was planning attacks on both the United States and Saudi Arabia as early as the end of Haj.
“It’s merely an assumption that such an attack might take place, but we hope that nothing of that sort will happen,” he said, emphasizing that the Kingdom will take all possible measures to prevent such a terrorist attack.
“We cannot rule out unpleasant surprises. But we will deal with them in the appropriate manner,” he added.
Prince Naif clarified that the Saudi border with Kuwait remains open as usual.
Referring to the overcrowding of pilgrims at the Jamrat in Mina, he called upon Islamic scholars to find a practical solution to the problem and said they should issue a religious edict allowing pilgrims to stone Jamrat during the morning hours.
“On the 11th of Dul Hijjah there is enough time, and there is then the whole night, to stone at Jamrat. But the problem is on the 12th of Dul Hijjah when most pilgrims rush there in the afternoon before leaving Mina,” he pointed out.
There are pilgrims who stone at Jamrat before noon and we don’t interfere in that matter and we don’t prevent them. “But having an edict to be followed by all pilgrims will make them start stoning from morning hours or after the Fajr prayers and then leave Mina. I leave this matter to Islamic scholars to decide,” he added.
“I know that the scholars want that the pilgrims perform the Haj rituals following in the footsteps of the Prophet, but we have to look at this matter in the light of the present situation and problems,” he said.
He also stressed the need for Tawafa organizations to send their pilgrims in batches to stone at Jamrat to avoid accidents and stampedes.
“Security officers are doing their best to control the pilgrims at the Jamrat area and organize the stoning ritual,” the prince said and urged pilgrims to do their rituals peacefully without causing trouble to fellow pilgrims.
Prince Naif said that the authorities are studying the way pilgrims choose to sit together in public places, as well as how many domestic pilgrims entered Makkah without valid Haj permits.
Prince Naif, who is chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee, said that he favored the removal of the line at the start of tawaf (circling the Holy Kaaba), saying it was causing unnecessary congestion.
