Another tragedy involving Haj pilgrims claims more than 250 lives, and various suggestions are put forward to check such incidents, including a restriction on the number of Haj pilgrimages one can make.
in BahrainAS has often been the case in the past, the annual Haj pilgrimage this year witnessed a major disaster. Two hundred and fifty-one people were killed in a stampede on February 1 in the tented city of Mina near Mecca. Thirteen of them, including four women, were from India. The stampede, which lasted for 27 minutes, also claimed the lives of 54 Indonesians, 36 Pakistanis, 13 Egyptians and several others of various nationalities.
The tragedy took place at a familiar place and time - at the 15-metre Jamarat bridge - on the penultimate day of the pilgrimage when a sea of worshippers were performing the "stoning of the devil" rite. This ceremony is carried out when pilgrims in an emotionally charged atmosphere hurl pebbles at a set of pillars - Jamarat al Aqaba, Jamarat al Wusta and Jamarat al Ula - that symbolise the devil. This ritual is performed a day ahead of Id-ul-Adha or the feast of sacrifice.
The high frequency of tragedies at the Jamarat bridge is mainly because it is a "choke point" straddling the area where the stoning ceremony is performed. Thousands of pilgrims converge on the Jamarat bridge and people in front circle the pillars, throw their stones and remain in the area for a few minutes. In the meantime, thousands of people on the bridge behind find themselves jostled and pushed from the rear. By the time the first group finishes and starts to return, a sea of humanity surging in the opposite direction usually confronts it. It is in this melee that ensues that some, especially the elderly, fall and are trampled upon, triggering a stampede. Once panic sets in, it is hard to contain the crush. Quite often the congestion on the bridge is compounded as several people among the moving crowd carry their belongings with them, obstructing the narrow passage even further.
Not surprisingly, the Jamarat bridge had been the scene of such tragedies in the past. Last year 14 pilgrims were crushed to death, and 35 died in a 2001 stampede. In a major tragedy in 1994, at least 270 pilgrims were killed near the bridge. The pilgrimage has witnessed major disasters at other sites too in the past. In 1990, 1,426 worshippers died in a stampede inside a crowded tunnel. Seven years later, a major fire that broke out in Mina killed 343 pilgrims and injured 1,500 others. Political undercurrents led to some of the disasters. Around 400 mainly Shia pilgrims from Iran died in clashes with the Saudi security forces in 1987. The incident took place at a time when political tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia were high.
There has been much criticism of the way the pilgrimage is organised. According to some analysts, the authorities in Saudi Arabia have to restrict the presence of over two million pilgrims who come annually to perform the Haj. For instance, it is suggested that the authorities need to discourage people who come frequently to repeat the performance of the Haj as it is obligatory for Muslims to perform the pilgrimage only once in their lifetime.
At present, the Saudi authorities have issued instructions that people should not perform the Haj more than once in five years. However, there are reports that many people have been performing the pilgrimage every year. Addressing the problem, an editorial in Arab Times, a leading English daily from Saudi Arabia, says, "Does someone returning from his 18th Haj think he is in a more blessed state than someone who has performed it only once in his life? The authorities need to clamp down - and hard - on these pilgrims who perform Haj without a permit." There has also been a call to restrict the number of visas that the Saudi government should issue to those seeking to perform the pilgrimage. At present, the government issues 1,000 Haj visas per million Muslims in a country.
A revamp of the transport arrangement might also be necessary to make the Haj safer. As of now worshippers mainly use buses, sports utility vehicles and other small vehicles that can carry more than seven passengers, to move from the holy city of Mecca to Mount Arafat and Mina. Consequently, nearly 8,000 vehicles clog the narrow streets of these cities that are already overflowing with pedestrians. Time schedules for worship are difficult to maintain as breakdown of buses, which is not uncommon, obstructs the flow of traffic considerably. This can be overcome in large measure if a railway system linking the key pilgrimage sites is put in place.
Unfamiliarity with the language is yet another problem that makes communication between the organisers and the pilgrims difficult. Worshippers coming from various corners of the globe find the instructions, which are issued mainly in Arabic and English, difficult to follow. There is a growing need to address the crowds in other languages too, such as Swahili, Hausa and Malayalam.
The need to modify the Jamarat bridge is most urgent. At the moment, the bridge has only a single floor. There has been a demand for quite some time that one more floor be added to it in order to reduce congestion at a single point. Besides, many worshippers simply spread out there mats and sleep under this bridge or in its vicinity, causing considerable obstruction to moving crowds.
In order to shorten the time taken to perform the "stoning of the devil" ritual, some have advocated the installation of an electronically controlled belt that can take worshippers around the pillars speedily. There has also been a suggestion that all pilgrims coming to perform the Haj should go through some orientation on safety issues before they leave for Jamarat. This safety drill, which pilgrims from Malaysia undergo before embarking on their journey, should be made part of the first-day routine at Mina. Then, on the way to the Jamarat, lanes can be created for people walking at different speeds and categorised according to age, sex or group.
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