UNLESS there is an eleventh-hour deal, Iranians will not be able to perform Haj this year because Riyadh and Tehran have not been able to agree on organisational details. The guilty parties include the two governments which have failed to sort out their relations, frozen since January after the unfortunate attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran following a Shia cleric’s execution by Saudi Arabia. Time is running out. But both sides continue to blame each other for the impasse. While the Saudi minister for Haj and umrah said Iran’s was the only side that had refused to sign an agreement and had made “unacceptable demands”, Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance accused Riyadh of sabotage. The problem is compounded by the fact that there is no Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran. Since, in such a situation, visas can be issued only by a third country, Iran wants Riyadh to have the visas issued by the Swiss embassy, which looks after Iranian interests.

The bad blood between these two oil powers has done enormous harm to the Muslim world and worsened the bleak Middle East scene because of their adversarial policies on Yemen and Syria. Instead of resolving their dispute and working for peace in the Muslim heartland, Riyadh and Tehran have adopted inflexible positions. No wonder, Syrian peace talks are being held in Geneva rather than a Middle Eastern capital. The truth is that the deadlock over Haj arrangements is a reflection of the deeper malaise that characterises their bilateral relationship. It is also a measure of Pakistan’s diplomatic impotence that it is in no position to mediate between two of its friends, and it is Switzerland which is looking after Iranian interests in Saudi Arabia. The redeeming feature is that talks continue, even though, as the Iranian minister put it, “it’s now too late”. For political reasons, thus, a large number of Muslims would be deprived of their right to perform what is one of the five pillars of their religion.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2016