Pakistani pilgrim missing in Saudi Arabia for six weeks

Family, co-travelers decry lethargy of officials, suspect he is in police custody

ISLAMABAD: An octogenarian Pakistan pilgrim who went missing from the grand mosque in Madina in Saudi Arabia six weeks ago has yet to be recovered with his family and fellow pilgrims suspecting that he may be in the custody of local police there.

Abdul Ghafoor Khan, who hails from Charsadda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had gone missing in Madina on August 19, around two weeks before the annual pilgrimage got underway.



His family members and fellow pilgrims said the 80-year-old man had gone missing after he had an altercation with the local police deputed at Masjid-e-Nabvi.

Six days later on August 25, Khan’s family members were informed by the Pakistani Hajj mission in Madina through an email that the octogenarian Haji had been handed over to his fellow pilgrims at their hotel in Madina.

However, his family claims said that Khan’s fellow travellers deny this. And when his fellow travellers returned on Saturday, Khan was not among them.



The Charsadda native’s son Imdadullah Khiyal told The Express Tribune that they had sent multiple requests to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and other government officials seeking their help in recovering his father but to no avail.

Khiyal and Khan’s fellow pilgrims suspect that the missing Haji could still be in the custody of Saudi police in Madina.

Pakistani Hajj officials, however, say they have checked with the police, hospitals and jail authorities in Madina, but have been unable to find Khan.

Khiyal, blaming the Pakistani Hajj officials for his father’s disappearance, warned that unless his father is recovered he would file a formal complaint against the Hajj officials with the police.

He urged the government to contact Saudi officials and help recover his missing father.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2016.