JEDDAH, 1 January 2005 — The tsunami disaster that struck South Asian countries has until now no effect on the number of Asian pilgrims coming to the Kingdom for Haj, Minister of Haj Iyad Madani, said.
Indonesia, the largest Muslim country and the worst affected by the disaster, has earlier announced it would send more than 200,000 pilgrims for Haj.
Madani said the ministry did not notice any change in the number of pilgrims or travel schedule. “Judging from previous experiences when natural or man-made tragedies struck some parts of the world, it seems this year Haj will not be affected by such developments”, the minister said.
Speaking to the press after touring the holy sites in Mina, Madani said a recent example is the war that took place last year and which did not affect the number of pilgrims coming for Haj.
“Contrary to expectations, the number of pilgrims has increased. Last year and because of wars in the region, we were concerned the inflow of pilgrims might be affected. But the opposite happened,” he said.
Around two million Muslims from all over the world are expected to perform Haj which will be observed in the second half of January.
More than 300,000 pilgrims have so far arrived by air, with a little over half the number arriving through King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah and the rest through King Muhammad ibn Abdul Aziz Airport in Madinah.
The minister visited the Jamarat Bridge area where pilgrims are required to stone the Devil as part of Haj rituals. The place witnessed a number of tragedies over the past years as a result of crowd resulting in the death of hundreds of pilgrims.
Madani said steps have been taken to pre-empt any incident, including expanding the basin where the pebbles thrown by pilgrims should land, mounting giant screens to monitor the traffic and direct pilgrims and opening new emergency exits to help in evacuation operations.
The minister commended the work being done by tawafa organizations responsible for the transport and accommodation of pilgrims during their stay in the Kingdom. He said these organizations are the closest to the pilgrims, understanding their culture and language and have over the years gained vast experience in handling pilgrims hailing from different cultural backgrounds.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs said it provided telephone lines for use by the pilgrims free of charge to address queries and seek guidance from relevant bodies.
