JEDDAH, 27 January 2004 — Some 3.5 million copies of a handbook, Haj: Step by Step, will be distributed in 20 languages among pilgrims this year. Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed launched the book on Sunday while inaugurating a major Haj awareness project. The Haj guide contains all information required by a pilgrim. The governor hoped that the project, launched under his initiative, would contribute to enhancing awareness among pilgrims. More than two million Muslims including 1.3 million from abroad are expected to perform Haj this year. Talal Al-Oqail, supervisor of the project, said the pilgrims will be enlightened through the Internet and text messaging.
46 Indian Pilgrims Die
Forty-six Indian pilgrims have died after arriving in the Kingdom for Haj, according to the Consulate General of India. “All of them, except one who had an accident in Madinah, were natural deaths,” Consul General Syed Akbaruddin said yesterday. “Most of the dead were above 65 and have been buried in Makkah according to the wishes of their relatives,” he said.
In all 71,707 pilgrims have arrived through the Haj Committee of India. Those coming through the HCI are also entitled to death or disability compensation up to a maximum of 300,000 Indian rupees under the cooperative group insurance plan.
Iraqi Pilgrims Stranded
Nearly 2,000 Iraqi pilgrims staged a protest on the border with Kuwait yesterday demanding that buses ferry them to the emirate on their way to Makkah.
The angry pilgrims gathered in front of the camp they set up last week some two kilometers from the Kuwaiti border in southern Iraq. They have been waiting for buses to take them to Kuwait airport from where they are expected to board planes to Saudi Arabia. “All the pilgrims have entry visas to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,” said Haitham Issa, a Red Crescent official from the Iraqi city of Basra. “They have been blocked at the border for six days because the buses that were to ferry them have not arrived,” he said.
