Haji camp: The road to Mecca runs through a ditch in Karachi

It’s time the government relocated the centre for intending pilgrims closer to the airport.

KARACHI: Before they actually depart for the revered journey of Hajj, intending pilgrims are put through a rigorous trial in Karachi. The first challenge is to find the Haji camp.

Every day hundreds of people turn up in Sultanabad and stop passerby, taxi drivers and shopkeepers for directions to New Haji Camp. Most of them have taken the route from PIDC intersection. They get on to the bridge, which leads to MT Khan Road. Right before the US consulate, a left turn has to be taken after the petrol pump, leading them into the densely populated locality. They then have to turn right into a narrow lane before manoeuvring left again. Proper signposting would have helped greatly.

The intending pilgrims arrive at the spot to find the road leading to the camp inundated. Dozens of children jump and dive into a ditch filled with water. People who don’t have transport squeeze past the edge of the road trying desperately not to get dirty. “There is a 33-inch diameter pipeline that passes near the camp and it keeps breaking down,” explained the director of Haji Camp, Abdul Sattar Samtio. “This has been happening since 2009.”

The Sultanabad Haji Camp was set up in 1966 for people who departed for Saudi Arabia by ship from Keamari Harbour. But the human traffic has long since shifted to the airport. Yet no effort has been made to relocate the camp. “God knows why they have set up the facility here,” remarked Muhammad Hassan, who had come with his mother and sister from Gulshan-e-Iqbal. “There should be at least two centres. I didn’t even know that this place existed.”

Director Samtio says relocation would be difficult as finding such a large place anywhere else in the city is next to impossible. “There are camps in other cities like Sukkur but we can’t turn away anyone coming here,” he said. “There is a huge rush at our camp. At times 4,500 people are visiting in one go.”

Around 180,000 Pakistanis are expected to perform Hajj this year. And all of them have to visit the state-run camps for immunisation and other formalities. Around 1,500 people come to camp every day for the mandatory medical check-ups, identification cards and clearance from narcotics control officials for the personal medication that they need to take on the journey.

There are no clear instructions on how soon or late they can undertake this exercise. For some people the camp becomes their home for a week. But the real difficulties are faced by the people arriving from rural Sindh and parts of Punjab. Umeed Ali came with a caravan of 19 people from Hyderabad. Their flight leaves in two days. “We should be getting the vaccinations in our own city,” he said. “Coming here does not make sense. Where will we stay now?” People also complain that the camp does nothing to actually help them when it comes to Hajj-related issues. For example, many pilgrims complained that they had paid a certain amount of money for accommodation close to the religious sites but their package was arbitrarily changed. No one was able to address the problem.

Samtio’s telephone and his personal mobile phone ring continuously. “It’s not an easy job managing this place,” he sighed. “The demands of the (influential) people are unending.”

It is the small things that count. The camp is located inside a Sindh Rangers compound with soldiers barracks and training facilities. The only toilets for both men and women are located at the far end. In order to reach them, they have to use a pathway that goes through a charred shooting range where soldiers practice their aim by firing shots at dummies.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2012.