Manama: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz said that his country would not tolerate any form of tampering with the Haj.
“Based on our Arab and Islamic responsibilities, and on the regional and international roles of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we stress our steady keenness on bringing Arabs and Muslims together and on not allowing any covert action to tamper with the endeavour,” he said. “We cooperate with our brothers in supporting Arab and Islamic efforts for the sake of well-being and stability,” King Salman told a gathering of heads of state, government and delegations performing the pilgrimage.
King Salman, who became the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques after succeeding his brother the late King Abdullah in January, said that Saudi Arabia was honoured by God to serve the two mosques and people who visited them.
“It is a source of pride for us as leaders, government and people, and we have devoted ourselves and dedicated all our potential to serving the guests of God and to ensure their well-being, security and safety,” he said on Friday, one day after 769 pilgrims were killed and over 800 were injured in a stampede on Thursday morning.
The king had ordered an investigation into the incident, the worst to hit the sprawling tent city of Mina, five kilometres off Makkah, in more than 25 years.
Preliminary reports and eyewitness accounts agreed that the stampede occurred when the flow of the pilgrims moving towards the Jamarat, where they would symbolically hurl pebbles at the devil, was halted, resulting in a tragic pile up.
According to some accounts, the crush happened when pilgrims coming from two different streets met at the intersection and were unable to move forward or turn back.
Other reports said that the deadly stampede resulted from the reverse movement of some pilgrims who wanted to go against the flow.
But while the investigation team is looking at the recordings by the multitude of cameras installed by the Saudi authorities to monitor the flow of more than two million pilgrims, the incident is being given political and sectarian tones amid claims that the stampede occurred after Saudis shut down two roads leading to the Jamarat to provide a secure area for a senior official.
Quoting sources it did not identify, Iran’s Fars News Agency said that the convoy of a Saudi leader “caused panic among millions of pilgrims and started the stampede that has so far claimed the lives of 1,300 in Mina on Thursday”.
“The large convoy escorted by over 350 security forces, including 200 army men and 150 policemen, sped up the road, causing panic among millions of pilgrims who were on the move from the opposite direction and caused the stampede,” the agency said.
Iranians have been insisting that 1,300 people died in the stampede while the official toll stands at 769.
On Thursday evening, Iran reported that “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared three days of national mourning over the death of 1,300 pilgrims, including at least 131 Iranians”.
Iran’s Culture Minister Ali Janati is to head a delegation to Saudi Arabia to follow up on the cases of 344 Iranians who Tehran says are missing.
Iran, whose citizens comprised the largest number of fatalities confirmed so far, announced in a state TV broadcast that among those Iranians still missing are Ghazanfar Roknabadi, a former ambassador to Lebanon, as well as two Iranian state TV reporters and a prominent political analyst
But while Iran blamed Saudi Arabia for the stampede, Muslim leaders defended the kingdom.
“I do not sympathise with the hostile statements against Saudi Arabia,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “I find the aggressive attitude towards Saudi Arabia incorrect,” he said, adding that he was confident the Saudis would take the necessary measures to address the problems.
The Turkish leader said it would be wrong to “point a finger at Saudi Arabia which does its best”.
“You have to see the glass as half full,” he told journalists, adding that each country suffers failures.
As Iranians started building pressure on Saudi Arabia, reports said Iranians were behind the stampede.
Saudi-owned Al Sharq Al Awsat on Saturday published a report that concurred with the Egyptian man’s version, and said the “unexpected floods of people” were Iranians.
The daily, quoting an official with the Iranian pilgrimage operators, said that 300 Iranian pilgrims broke the stoning process instructions, causing the stampede at Street 204.
“The group of pilgrims moved directly from Muzdalifah to throw the pebbles at the devil and did not stay in the special tents in Mina and wait for their turn,” the official who was not named said. “That meant the pilgrims moved in the opposition direction and their movement clashed with the other pilgrims going to Jamarat and whose timings were duly coordinated. Since the Iranian group did not reverse its flow and kept moving ahead, the stampede occurred in a street that is less than 20 metres wide.”
Other sources told the daily the Iranians were scheduled to move towards Jamarat alongside the Turkish pilgrims hours after the stampede occurred.
Under the stoning plans, all pilgrims must gather in Mina and wait for their turn to go to Jamarat.
An Egyptian pilgrim saying he was an eyewitness blamed the stampede on “the sudden surge of a large group of people who joined the flow of the other pilgrims”.
“I was going back with my wife after stoning the devil at around 8.30am,” Husain Mohammad Akasha, an Egyptian pilgrim, said. “However, as we were getting close to our camp, we were shocked by a large number of people coming towards us from the opposite direction. They were moving like a flood and they did not heed any instructions. They were moving fast in the wrong direction. It was highly unusual. And no pilgrim could move forward because of the flood of people. That is when the stampede occurred,” he said, quoted by Saudi news site Sabq.
Hussain said that he was able to escape by throwing himself into a nearby camp, but added that he did not know what happened to his wife.
The blogosphere and social media erupted over the last three days over the stampede, with most users, mainly in the Gulf countries, coming to the defence of Saudi Arabia.
