THE Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), as before, excelled in making this year’s Hajj mission a complete success, despite numerous challenges including intensity of weather. This has also been acknowledged by Pakistan Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Ch. Salik Hussain who praised the Saudi Government for its meticulous preparations for the purpose and described the arrangements as ‘exemplary’. He noted that hundreds of volunteers and Saudi forces were deployed at multiple sites to facilitate over 2 million pilgrims to smoothly perform Hajj.
There is no denying the fact that the Kingdom has invested billions of Riyals to improve facilities and comfort level for Umrah and Hajj pilgrims not only in and around the two holy mosques but also in Araft, Muzdalifah and Mina. It was because of this hard work, investment and improvement in procedures that no untoward incident was noted except death of pilgrims due to scorching heat. However, it may be noted that out of about 1,300 mortalities, 83% were those who were not authorized to perform Hajj which means they had no formal shelters to live in during Hajj days. Among the deceased were several elderly and chronically ill individuals. Otherwise, as pointed out by the Pakistan Minister, the Saudi authorities had implemented various measures to alleviate the adverse impact of heat, including installing water sprinklers and organizing a system to distribute cold water and beverages. The KSA also implemented a comprehensive health services plan, which ensured provision of free health services to pilgrims. The Kingdom also prepared 5,138 workers and 4,000 machines for daily cleaning and sanitizing of the Grand Mosque and installed 883 air conditioning units, 4,079 ventilation fans and 244 misting fans. There is, of course, scope for further improvement and that is why the Saudi authorities remain in touch with other countries to get feedback and enlist their cooperation for the purpose.
