Mismanagement puts pilgrims in trouble

PESHAWAR: The lack of coordination among government agencies led to chaos after pilgrims arrived at the Peshawar airport on Tuesday.

Pilgrims, who had already arrived hours late due to the delay of flights from Jeddah, were taken to the Haji Camp in Hayatabad, where their relatives and staff of the Hajj Directorate had to unload their baggage, as the police did not allow volunteers of the civil defence department to enter the premises.

Shafqat Khan, a local shopkeeper, who had come to Peshawar International Airport to receive his father told The Express Tribune that his father was scheduled to arrive on the 8pm flight, but the plane landed at around 3am.

Shafqat said that pilgrims were taken from the airport to the Haji Camp in buses but those pilgrims who missed the buses had to walk on foot to the Bara Gate, which is a 30 minute walk from the Peshawar airport. “We were told by the police that for security reasons we cannot park our cars nearby,” he said.

Haji Nasir, a pilgrim, said that they had to board a plane for Peshawar from Jeddah at around 2pm, but their baggage was not loaded on the plane till 2:30pm which is why their flight was late and departed at 6:30pm.

He said that he managed to avoid going to Haji camp through some connection and came out of the airport and went to his home.

However, an official of the Hajj Directorate told The Express Tribune that it was the district administration, police and Airport Security Force (ASF) fault, which created disorder on the pretext of law and order.

The official said that on September 27 a meeting of 22 government agencies associated with Hajj operations was held at the directorate. “The city police chief and other law enforcing agencies said that the Hajis could not separate from Peshawar airport due to security threats and the pilgrims should be taken to the Haji camp,” the official said.

The official said that they had no funds to facilitate this and informed the Chief Secretary about this, on November 2, and were told by the CS office to make the necessary arrangements.

However, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, on November 11, once again refused to take any responsibility towards this saying that the pilgrims could not be taken to the Haji Camp and should be picked up from the airport itself.

A letter issued by the ministry said that if there were any threats due to the number of people coming to the airport, then the authorities should not allow them inside the airport premises and should transport them to camps.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Home and Tribal Affairs Department (H&TA) issued a letter on November 16, the last working day before Eid, saying that the funds to transport pilgrims to the Haji Camp will be paid by provincial department.However, by the time the letter reached the H&TA the staff had left and a copy of the letter was not forwarded to the Provincial Hajj Directorate, who only came to know of this letter on Sunday from the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Islamabad.

Deputy Director Hajj, Fida Mohamamd, told The Express Tribune that the department was sorry for the inconvenience being faced by the Hajis, but due to the lack of funds and short staffing they were unable to make adequate arrangements. He said that they have discussed the issues with the district administration and the pilgrims will not face any problem. Fida said that Hajj Directorate has nothing to do with late departure or arrival of flights.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2010.