ISLAMABAD: The operational plan of the General Presidency of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque is being implemented by 7,720 teams to serve pilgrims during this year’s Hajj season, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Around 200,000 Pakistani pilgrims will perform Hajj this year where most of them have already reached Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan’s director general for Hajj mission, Dr. Sajid Yousfani, last week told Arab News that the mission is “getting full support and co-operation” from Saudi officials to facilitate Pakistani Hajj pilgrims.
To facilitate the Hajj Pilgrims Saudi General Directorate of Passports (GDP) has appointed a number of students who can also speak Urdu, Pakistan’s National Language, to assist the pilgrims.
According the SPA Saudi teams are providing their services in all aspects of the plan. These include service, engineering, technical, technological, cultural, information, social aspects and oversight functions.
The staff are carrying out awareness initiatives to guide the worshippers in religious and organizational aspects in order to help them perform their rituals with comfort.
The service aspect is one of the most important field tasks in the operational plan of the agency. Staff working on these tasks are responsible for cleaning the Prophet’s Mosque, supplying all sites with carpets and Zamzam water, cleaning machinery and equipment, transferring older persons and people with special needs, providing guidance services, preparing portable containers for distributing Zamzam bottles, and ensuring the cleanliness of prayer areas and other facilities.
Moreover, the staff responsible for service tasks open and guard the mosque’s doors, organize the movement of crowds as part of the initiative for clearing paths, maintain the security and safety of the mosque and its facilities, oversee parking areas, and allocate medical emergency sites and provide them with the necessary equipment.
For the 15th year in a row, the Youth of Makkah at Your Service program has maintained its role in serving pilgrims with the participation of 500 young men, who are undertaking activities during the season in partnership with several government bodies.
The acting director general of the Project for the Glorification of the Sacred City, Saud Al-Rehaili, said its activities aim to guide those who get lost inside the Grand Mosque and help older persons and those with special needs perform the Tawaf and Sai.
More than 7,000 teams to serve pilgrims during Hajj 2019
More than 7,000 teams to serve pilgrims during Hajj 2019
- 200,000 Pakistani pilgrims will perform Hajj this year
- Pakistan officials say they are getting full cooperation from Saudi authorities
UN torture expert decries Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s detention
- Khan’s party alleges government is holding him in solitary confinement, barring prison visits
- Pakistan’s government rejects allegations former premier is being denied basic rights in prison
GENEVA: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in conditions that could amount to torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture warned Friday.
Alice Jill Edwards urged Pakistan to take immediate and effective action to address reports of the 73-year-old’s inhumane and undignified detention conditions.
“I call on Pakistani authorities to ensure that Khan’s conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards,” Edwards said in a statement.
“Since his transfer to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on September 26, 2023, Imran Khan has reportedly been held for excessive periods in solitary confinement, confined for 23 hours a day in his cell, and with highly restricted access to the outside world,” she said.
“His cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance.”
Khan an all-rounder who captained Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, upended Pakistani politics by becoming the prime minister in 2018.
Edwards said prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement is prohibited under international human rights law and constitutes a form of psychological torture when it lasts longer than 15 days.
“Khan’s solitary confinement should be lifted without delay. Not only is it an unlawful measure, extended isolation can bring about very harmful consequences for his physical and mental health,” she said.
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.
Initially a strong backer of the country’s powerful military leadership, Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, and has since been jailed on a slew of corruption charges that he denies.
He has accused the military of orchestrating his downfall and pursuing his Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies.
Khan’s supporters say he is being denied prison visits from lawyers and family after a fiery social media post this month accusing army leader Field Marshal Asim Munir of persecuting him.
According to information Edwards has received, visits from Khan’s lawyers and relatives are frequently interrupted or ended prematurely, while he is held in a small cell lacking natural light and adequate ventilation.
“Anyone deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and dignity,” the UN expert said.
“Detention conditions must reflect the individual’s age and health situation, including appropriate sleeping arrangements, climatic protection, adequate space, lighting, heating, and ventilation.”
Edwards has raised Khan’s situation with the Pakistani government.
