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LAHORE: The Ministry of Religious Affairs (Mora) on Tuesday called for the Lahore High Court (LHC) to 'reprimand' a citizen for "trying to strain the sensitive relationship between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of Pakistan".
The LHC's Justice Ayesha A. Malik last week took up a petition filed by Arif Idrees, who accused the ministry of hiding facts about casualties sustained as a result of the Mina stampede which occurred during the annual Haj pilgrimage this year.
The petitioner earlier claimed that international media reported 236 Pakistani pilgrims had died in the incident but Mora officials had provided misleading death toll figures.
“They were reluctant to give the exact death toll as they are not performing duties assigned to them in accordance with law,” the petitioner had said.
Submitting a complete record to the court, the ministry replied to the petitioner saying the Director General (DG) Haj had placed teams at various points in Mina "for the guidance of lost pilgrims" which Mora says "is the only legal work" they are allowed by the government of Saudi Arabia.
Mora said Saudi authorities had “pushed all [Pakistani] volunteers outside the cordon and then started to work on their own” after the stampede. The government counsel further claimed that 'thousands' of pilgrims at the scene had witnessed the incident.
Read: 'Saudi carelessness' in Mina stampede criticised in Senate
The ministry claimed that a team of officers in Jeddah were amongst the first team of volunteers to arrive at the scene of the stampede.
The reply submitted by the ministry today says 76 pilgrims are dead, while 47 are injured. The DG Haj initially sent out medical teams to hospitals in Makkah, Mina and Arafat to ascertain the nationalities of the patients and casualties admitted. Mora was in contact with a team deployed at various hospitals and morgues, it said.
"A dedicated help centre was immediately set up in the Mina and Makkah camp offices to assist those Hujjaj and their families who had reportedly been separated from each other during ramee at Jamarat or were in the vicinity of the stampede area," the ministry said.
It added that ministry officials in Jeddah had first informed the media that the tragedy took place at the intersection of Mina's street 204 with street 223 and not at Jamarat.
In response to the petitioner’s claim that 236 Pakistani pilgrims had perished in the stampede, the ministry said, "The very fact that the applicant has stated on record that the death toll of the Pakistani Hujjaj is 236 shows a lack of awareness and personal malice on the part of the petitioner against the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony and its officers based in Jeddah."
"The government of Pakistan has a responsibility to ascertain the facts before giving them to the public. The numbers and details of the casualties were given after verification and posted on the website of this ministry,” the reply stated, adding that the ministry cannot report names or figures based on hearsay.
Counsel for the petitioner Advocate Azhar Siddique said the death toll provided in Mora's report to the LHC was ‘baseless’ and maintained that 236 Pakistani pilgrims had perished in the stampede.
The petitioner’s counsel also said that the number of injured was inaccurate and claimed that the actual number was greater and the matter would be pursued further.
The petitioner had earlier accused the DG Haj Abu Akaf of hiding facts. He requested the court to direct the ministry to provide correct information about the casualties. He also said the court should ensure that action was taken against those responsible for hiding the information.
Justice Ayesha Malik had directed the ministry to submit a report on casualties as well as the performance of the DG Haj by the next hearing of the case on Oct 6.
The case has been adjourned until Oct 26.
