Saudi Arabia’s top religious leader
has said that the Hajj stampede which killed 717 pilgrims was beyond human
control, official media reported on the final day of this year’s pilgrimage.
The stampede was the worst disaster
in a quarter-century to strike the annual event and drew fierce criticism of
the Saudi authorities’ handling of safety, particularly from regional rival
Iran.
“You are not responsible for what
happened”, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh told Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in
a meeting in Mina on Friday, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on
Saturday.
“As for the things that humans
cannot control, you are not blamed for them. Fate and destiny are inevitable,”
the sheikh on told the prince, who is also minister of interior.
Bib Nayef chairs the Saudi Hajj
committee and has ordered an investigation into Thursday’s stampede during a
symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims at
Jamarat Bridge in Mina, just outside the holy city of Mecca.
King Salman, whose official title is
“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” in Mecca and Medina, also ordered “a
revision” of how the Hajj is organised.
On Saturday, groups of pilgrims were
moving from early morning towards Jamarat Bridge for the last of three stoning
days.
The interior ministry has said it
assigned 100,000 police to secure the Hajj and manage crowds.
But pilgrims blamed the stampede on
police road closures and poor management of the flow of hundreds of thousands
of pilgrims in searing temperatures.
Abdullah al-Sheikh, chairman of the
Shura Council, an appointed body which advises the government, stressed that
pilgrims must stick to “the rules and regulations taken by the security
personnel… In doing so, they protect their lives, their security and facilitate
their performing of the rituals.”
Health Minister Khaled al-Falih
earlier made similar remarks that faulted the worshippers.
Source:punchng
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