Saudi mismanagement main cause of Hajj tragedies: Pundit
Press TV conducts an interview with Ali al-Ahmed, the director of the Institute for [Persian] Gulf Affairs from Washington, and Shahid Qureshi, a writer and analyst with The London Post from London, to discuss tragedies at the annual Muslim pilgrimage of Hajj.
Ahmed says the Hajj incidents should push Muslim governments to take a stance against the Saudis’ continuous failure to protect the lives of pilgrims. Nearly 10,000 Muslim pilgrims have lost their lives due to mismanagement by the Saudi authorities since 1985, he notes.
The Muslim nations such as Iran, Turkey and Indonesia are expected to call for having a share in management of the biggest and the most important Islamic ritual to avoid such incidents in the future, he urges.
The Saudis want to have a monopoly on every single aspect of the Hajj pilgrimage; thus, they prevent any involvement by other countries, Ahmed maintains.
“Mecca city is now the most dangerous holy city in the world maybe in the history in terms of people who have died in these stampedes,” the analyst argues, in reference to the Thursday crush incident that killed hundreds of Hajj pilgrims on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca.
He also blames the Saudi government for the incident.
Qureshi, for his part, believes the Saudi kingdom is expected to do more to ensure safety of pilgrims during the annual Hajj pilgrimage to avoid such tragic incidents. He adds that full investigation into the incident is necessary, because the world public opinion wants to be aware of the cause of the Thursday tragedy in Mina.
The writer calls on those who instruct the Hajj pilgrims to prepare them precisely, because there are millions of pilgrims in the ritual, some of whom are not aware of what to do during the holy Islamic ceremony.
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