PESHAWAR, Jan 20: A group of Hangu elders have demanded of the government to take action against the fake Haj operators, who deprived them of Rs7,350,000.

Syed Haroon told a press conference here on Friday that 31 people including his family members wanted to perfume Haj so they gave Rs7,350,000 to Ibrahim and his brother Dr Qasim, residents of Karak district, because they were posing as Haj operators.

Flanked by Shakeel Akber and Azizur Rahman, he said that Ibrahim was an employee of Afghan Commissionerate at Kohat. He demanded of the chief minister, district coordination officer of Karak and Afghan Commissionerate to take action against those who had deceived them of their hardearned money.

'On October 7, we all 31 persons including women reached Islamabad airport for Haj flight but Ibrahim and Dr Qasim were not present there,' Mr Haroon said.

He said that they contacted them by their cellular phones and Ibrahim told them that their flight had been postponed owing some technical fault.

He said that all they stayed at a hotel there for one month and at last on September 2 Dr Qasim phoned them that their passports had been handed over to the receptionist of the hotel.

Mr Haroon said that they got their passports but there was no visa stamp on them. The two brothers, he said, had given a check to his family members of Rs7,350,000 but it bounced.

Some of the people visiting house of the accused were beaten up and threatened to be killed if they demanded the money again, he alleged.

He said that a local jirga also tried to resolve the issue but the fake Haj operators did not turn up at the venue of the meeting.

Similarly, Khattak Ittehad, a local organisation, formed a jirga to resolve the issue, but to no avail, he added.

He demanded of the government to take action against the fake Haj operators and help them recover their money.

He said that they were defrauded in the name of Haj. Mr Haroon said that the accused group of fake Haj operators deserved to be penalised heavily so that they would not dare to deceive others in future in the sacred name of Haj.