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ISLAMABAD: The 'carelessness of Saudi authorities' during the Mina stampede, which had resulted in the death of more than 700 pilgrims, was strongly criticised by some Senators in the Upper House of Parliament on Monday.
Senator Usman Kakar, strongly criticised Saudi officials over "their failure to facilitate pilgrims despite earning billions of dollars". He also blamed Saudi officials for their 'carelessness'.
Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Pir Aminul Hasnat Shah updated the Senate regarding the details of the Mina stampede.
Shah said that as soon as the stampede occurred officials of Pakistan Haj commission had managed to rescue 23 people, who were shifted to the Pakistani High Commission for medical treatment. He added that Saudi security personnel later arrived at the scene and cordoned off the Pakistani High Commission, preventing its staff from carrying out further rescue efforts.
Shah expressed the hope that Saudi Government would share facts which would emerge after investigation of the incident.
The state minister claimed that the number of Pakistani pilgrims martyred in the stampede stood at 76 while 47 are reported injured.
Shah further said that there are still sixty Pakistani pilgrims who are missing and their data is available with the ministry. He added that the data could be presented in the House if needed.
Rabbani comes clear on MQM resignations
Later during the session, Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani announced his ruling regarding the resignations of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members.
In his ruling Rabbani added references from the law and the Constitution to his ruling to justify his act of not accepting the resignations the MQM members had submitted on Aug 12.
Rabbani while giving his arguments for not accepting the resignations immediately, maintained that the Chairman Senate and Speaker of National Assembly cannot perform their duties like a post office official
"It is our responsibility to check whether the legislators and senators gave their resignations voluntarily or not, the documents can be scrutinised"
Read: MQM’s first resignations from Senate
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) stalwart added that the Constitution of Pakistan does not allow him to accept the resignations without proper verification or scrutiny.
Leader of the opposition in senate Chaudhry Aitzan Ahsan had raised the issue of MQM resignations in the house on September 16 demanding the chairman to apprise the members regarding MQM senators' status after their resignations.
MQM lawmakers on August 22 had simultaneously submitted their resignations in the National Assembly, Senate and the Sindh Assembly citing reservations over the Rangers-led operation in Karachi.
The decision on the resignations is also pending in the National Assembly as well as the Sindh Assembly.
*Also Read: What led to MQM's en masse resignation*
— Irfan Haider contributed to the reporting of this story
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (43) Closed
Oct 05, 2015 06:31pm
Good Job Senate to speak up.
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Oct 05, 2015 06:33pm
Stop criticising Saudi Arabia and making one our few good friends an enemy. Our politicians have no sense of balance, tactfulness or diplomacy. No wonder the country is being run by the Army.
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Oct 05, 2015 06:43pm
Saud is above the law especially international law and nothing will happen. Tomorrow they will bomb another wedding or hospital in Yemen. You can see from whom they have learned their modus operandi.
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Oct 05, 2015 06:49pm
There goes our friendship and Saudi will become close friend of India and invest $100 Billions.Then we think why every one is becoming our enemy.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:02pm
@salim khan
They are already friend of Muslims enemy (Israel) so doesn't make difference.One should have the courage to speak up for fellow Muslims,which is appreciable rather than selling your national integrity.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:05pm
@salim khan Learn to identify the enemies of humanity.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:17pm
@salim khan @kamal
Please remember Saudi Arabia is a country not God. It's not blasphemy to point fingers at Saudi mistakes.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:22pm
Rubbish. Our Govts have not the least idea of magnitude of work done by Saudis for Hajj Pilgrims facilitation. How we respond to any emergency here can be seen when any such thing occurs here, forget about what happens at Saudi Arabia.Please care to ask those who have gone to Hajj through our Govt scheme surely they will inform how bad the experience was.Even India manages Hajj better than our govt.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:25pm
Practically nobody can control the crowd, you can say a mob of 3 million people moving in the same direction at the same time speaking more than 50 different languages, further more majority of them don’t bother to follow the instructions, they are in so much hurry almost running towards jamarat for stoning and too much emotional, pulling and pushing each other, this what I saw during haj, there are timing schedules for stoning for each and every camp, but majority of people coming from muzdalifa rather going back to their camps they prefer to go directly to Jamarat and then to Makkah, to complete the rituals as soon as possible, even I saw people tried to take U turn after stoning, which is totally ridiculous. Until and unless every country should educate and train their respective haji, these types of stampede can never be avoided in future as well. Lackness of Security personnels might be also there. On part of Haj administration there is always a room for the improvement, in every year things are getting better n better but the handling of wild crowd is a very, very tough job. This is my personal experience in haj n during umrah as well.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:33pm
MQM law makers should not have resigned. They should participate in Senate and NA.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:36pm
We should act in a diplomatic way. No doubt Saudi Arabia has been a friendly and brotherly country since our Independence.
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Oct 05, 2015 07:43pm
Criticizing sauid's is not fair, the people who went there knows how efficiently and effectively they manage. It is our people, mostly they don't listen. Authorities does announcement in different language but Asian peoples specially doesn't care about it. The speech is purely political to break nawaz's govt's relations with Saudi arabia
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Oct 05, 2015 08:02pm
Respect human values first even God will appreciate not the other way around.
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Oct 05, 2015 08:08pm
Please don't practice diplomacy with KSA over blood of the martyrs.
Sauds have to answer to all Muslim states for the loss.
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Oct 05, 2015 08:17pm
Came to know by a group leader who went to collect few of his dead hujaj,
said 41 containers of 150 to 200 bodies per container, piled up, black in colour and inflated. Not result of stampede but suffocation, heat and compression.
10000s of CC TV covers each and every inch. Why Saudis are reluctant to show these videos and preventing foreign rescuers to reach site.
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Oct 05, 2015 08:18pm
This is great news for the shauda, the injured and the missing Hajis that our govt. is standing with them and call spade a spade.
The should no longer be treated as Masakeen in KSA.
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Oct 05, 2015 08:31pm
Proud of Pakistani Senate. Well done! Why are people fearful of accusing Saudi official beats me. What is the worst that can happen, they will stop sending funds to Pakistan? That will be our lucky day, They will stop Pakistan from attending pilgrimage? They are not the owners of Makkah and Madina, the lord you pray to 5 times is the owner and he can make necessary changes to allow everyone to attend pilgrimage. Stop being is worried about begging for money from Kings and fear your lord more.
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Oct 05, 2015 08:56pm
It is an open secret that son of present Saudi ruler was cause of stampede and loss of innocent lives. He came there with a huge security entourage and the exits were closed to ensure his security. There are several clips on You Tube for those who are struggling to accept the facts. Saudi Arabia treatment to people mainly from sub continent is pathetic. It's sad to see people writing in their support either because they have lack of knowledge or due to glitter of riyals.
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Oct 05, 2015 09:06pm
All Muslim countries should co-manage Hajj for two months from now on. The Saudis are incapable of running things.
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Oct 05, 2015 09:43pm
During my Haj visit I was really impressed by their services to pilgrims. They have setup train that connects mina, muzdalfa, arafat only for 5 hajj days. Maintaining train whole year only for 5 days shows how much they care about pilgrims.
They have given 10 million Saudi Riyal ( 2.8 carore Rupes ) for each victim of crain accident, I agree that this will not bring deceased back but in Pakistan in such type of accidents how much affected people family get.
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Oct 05, 2015 10:17pm
@Iftikhar . For VIP movement there is separate bridge in Jamarat. Please do not forward things without verification .
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Oct 05, 2015 10:29pm
Saudis are responsible for this carnage. It is their failure that caused this many deaths. Why should anyone not criticize Saudis. I do not understand. I do agree that our politicians are impotent too.
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Oct 05, 2015 10:46pm
So, does that mean we won't lay the red carpet for Saudis on their arrival to Pakistan? No?
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Oct 05, 2015 11:28pm
Visit of King's son (Janab Mohammed Ibn Salman) is the main cause of deaths . Why Saudis are not fulfilling Iranian demand of showing CCTVs recordings , if they were innocent they could show next day.
What is the purpose of installing thousands of CCTVs if they can not monitor crowds density and closures.
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Oct 05, 2015 11:32pm
Before criticizing the Saudis....we should have asked as to what our Ministry of Religious Affairs was doing ? What or Embassy in KSA was doing ? what the people sent on government expense to oversee the welfare of the Hajjis, were doing ? What exactly did our PM with his family ties to the Saudi Royalty do ?
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Oct 05, 2015 11:56pm
What about PEMRA gag orderon media and citizens for not asking the question or information on Saudi deaths? If Saudi is hiding the facts then our country is also helping them to do so. Missing Pakistanis is a concern since Saudi should know who is where right from the day of arrival. Heard roumors that the organs from the returned bodies is missing?
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Oct 06, 2015 12:05am
Don t worry top of the list are iranians who left mina
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Oct 06, 2015 12:12am
PEMRA has banned any type of news in Pakistan against the HAJJ stampede. More than 4000 have died. No news about this inside Pakistan.
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Oct 06, 2015 12:26am
Money can erect structures, but cannot make you intelligent!
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Oct 06, 2015 12:36am
Amazing that even after such a terrible tragedy perpetrated by the Saudis' negligence, so many Pakistanis would still react by defending Saudi Arabia instead of defending the stampede victims and their families.
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Oct 06, 2015 12:37am
@kamal & @salim khan: Saudi Arabia signed a defense cooperation pact with India last year and is now looking to invest at least a billion dollars in India's economy, so you can forget about Saudi Arabia being Pakistan's friend, especially given Saudi Arabia's record of fomenting terrorism in our country.
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Oct 06, 2015 01:23am
Saudi Arab is the best country in the world as living here in this blessed country I know they are very keen to serve well the millions of pilgrims .Mina tragedy caused by some pilgrims themselves who did not follow the instructions
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Oct 06, 2015 01:33am
Not a single Saudi pilgrim died in the stampede. Saudi has not said sorry. And Saudi blames foreign pilgrims for the satmpede.
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Oct 06, 2015 02:22am
What does it mean to say 60 people are still missing? How can they be "missing"? Are these people not identified yet? That is different than missing. Saudia should come clean on this.
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Oct 06, 2015 05:35am
Saudi did not communicate and apologize with any nation. It is their negligence and we demand them million dollars per family. They make approx. 10 billion dollar at the haj season.
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Oct 06, 2015 05:39am
Sixteen billion & seven hundred Us dollars generated ( profit ) after expenses paid. What a disappointing performance. Sad very sad.
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Oct 06, 2015 06:00am
Saudis wanna see Pakistan as a backward country from the beginning that's why they support madrasa education in Pakistan. Pakistan must seek strong friendship with Iran and Israel and ignore Saudi Arabia. The more Pakistan stays away from Saudi Arabia the more develop it will get. Saudis are good friends of Israel they don't talk about it.
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Oct 06, 2015 06:01am
A very good descion by Senate over 200 pakistanis are killed and missing in Saudi Arabia.
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Oct 06, 2015 06:05am
@Afzal yeah blame the victims and not the management. Thats the way to go.
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Oct 06, 2015 06:48am
The Saudis are rightly being condemned for the needless deaths. They need to act responsibly. If they can not manage the welfare of people then maybe they should hire competent people to do it for them.
They should limit the number of people coming for hajj to 1 visit per 5 years.
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Oct 06, 2015 06:53am
Well done Senate! However for the future safety - If Haj visitors were spread out, more or less UNIFORMLY, over 365 days in the year, the crowds would be very much less. It requires a 'paradigm shift'. Price mechanism can be used for this purpose. Each visitor would be required to purchase a "Certificate of Entitlement" for the days of the visit. Visitors would be required to bid for the dates desired. Minimum cost of bid application could be US$ 1. The Maximum cost of bids, would be up to the visitors bidding for the Fixed Quota for those dates. Saudi Arabia is running out of oil. The income from people visiting Saudi Arabia for the Haj could be new Source of Income. Most importantly it will eliminate stampedes & increase safety of the Haj visitors. It requires a paradigm shift. Can it be done at all ?
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Oct 06, 2015 09:24am
@kamal Go tell this to the families of the deceased. I'm sure they'll agree.
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Oct 06, 2015 04:57pm
@Danish ..... Money! Money! Money! ..that's why Pakistan is still beger infront of GCC and IMF. Money is not everything , for a Muslim dignity , pride and ethical values are important. Our Qibla E Awal (Baitul Muqadas) is being Hurt on daily basis and Palstinians are being killed everyday for the defence of Qibla E Awal...... But Harmain Sharifain enjoying luxurious life on the beaches of france.
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