PM summons DG Hajj over irregularities in Hajj

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has immediately summoned the Director General (DG) Hajj to Islamabad over the recent irregularities in Hajj this year, News Trends reported on Saturday.

The prime minister said that embezzlement allegations in Hajj arrangements are intolerable. The prime minister also directed the foreign office to make all the Hajj arrangements in direct coordination with the Saudi government from the next time. Yousaf Raza Gilani added that the Saudi government made excellent arrangements for Hajj this year and that the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz took personal interest in the arrangements for Hajj.

Saudi Does not Rule out Qaeda act Against Hajj Security

MECCA: The Saudi interior minister said on Wednesday he would not rule out an Al-Qaeda attempt to disturb security during the annual hajj pilgrimage, which begins next week.

“We cannot trust them (Al-Qaeda). We do not rule out any attempt to disturb the security of the hajj,” Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz told reporters when asked about a possible Al-Qaeda threat.

“We are ready for any act that might take place. God willing, nothing of that will happen, out of respect to this rite,” he said at a press conference following a parade of security forces and civil defence in preparation for the hajj season.

“We are capable of foiling such acts,” he said.

Some 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims are expected to descend on the Muslim holy city of Mecca in western Saudi Arabia for the hajj.

The five-day pilgrimage takes place during the middle of the month of Dhul al-Hijja, and starts this year on November 14.

Al-Qaeda, whose leader Osama bin Laden is a Saudi native who was stripped of his nationality, is the sworn enemy of the country’s monarch.

The group launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings across the country from 2003 to 2006, which prompted a sharp crackdown by the Saudi leadership.

Thousands of suspected militants were jailed, but possibly hundreds escaped abroad.

Last year, Saudi authorities thwarted several attempted attacks by Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in neighbouring Yemen. Many Saudis are known to be active with Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

In late August, one AQAP militant, pretending to turn himself in to the country’s security czar, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, exploded a small bomb in the prince’s Jeddah palace.

Al-Qaeda said it had also narrowly missed Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz in another attack last year as he flew into the Yemeni capital Sanaa on a visit.

Al-Qaeda last month threatened to launch fresh attacks on Saudi royal family members in an Internet video message commemorating the bombing targeting Prince Nayef.

Saudi and Yemeni militants announced the merging of their factions in Yemen in January 2009, as intelligence reports have warned that Yemen has become a regrouping haven for Al-Qaeda veterans.

Authorities in Yemen have launched a fierce military campaign against AQAP.

Last year’s hajj coincided with the 30th anniversary of one of the most stunning attacks in Saudi history, the November 20, 1979 seizure of the grand mosque in Mecca by a band of Muslim extremists.

To mark a new century on the Islamic calendar, a group of millennialist zealots, who claimed to have with them the new redeemer — the mahdi — seized Islam’s holiest site.

They were all killed in the fight or beheaded upon their arrest following a two-week fight.

Religious minister rules out corruption in Hajj affairs

Ministry of Religious Affairs has sent detailed report, about the buildings taken for residence of Hajis, to the Supreme Court. Religious Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi said that it is a debatable issue that why Saudi prince directly wrote letter to the Supreme Court. He said that he will resigned if corruption in Hajj affairs gets proved.

In a press conference in Islamabad, Saeed Kazmi said that the letter should be sent to Pakistan government through Saudi foreign ministry and it was against the diplomatic manners to send a letter directly to the Supreme Court. He said that rent of any building was not more than 1600 riyals and they were situated some three kilometer away from Khana Kaaba.

Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, in the letter accused the minister for Religious Affairs of embezzlement.

Polio confirmed in three year old girl in Ghotki

Staff Report

GHOTKI: A three year old girl has been tested positive for polio in Ghotki on Thursday.

During a meeting headed by DCO Abdul Aziz Uqaili, it has been told that polio has been detected in three year old girl, Subhana, in a nearby village of Ghotki.

Till date, total nine complains have been received about the polio victim children of Ghotki and its outskirts.

The meeting decided to launch a three days anti-polio campaign from November 8 to 10. Trend Pk

Saudi prince alleges embezzlement in Pakistan’s Haj Scheme

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud has pointed out financial irregularities in Pakistan Haj scheme, Trend Pk reported Wednesday.

The Saudi prince, in a letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, accused the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry of funds’ embezzlement.

Under the Haj scheme, the pilgrims were charged more for the residences rented by the ministry near Mecca and Madina, the letter states.

The Prince said that the ministry rented residences for pilgrims during Haj for 3,400 to 3, 600 Saudi riyals while the prices are actually around 1,500 riyals, adding that he had offered lower rates to the ministry but his quotation was rejected.

The Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of the issue and the apex court has asked for a reply from the ministry within 15 days. Trend Pk

Saudi prince alleges embezzlement in Pakistan Haj Scheme

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud has pointed out financial irregularities in Pakistan Haj scheme, Trend Pk reported Wednesday.

The Saudi prince, in a letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, accused the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry of funds’ embezzlement.

Under the Hajj scheme, the pilgrims were charged more for the residences rented by the ministry near Mecca and Madina, the letter states.

The Prince said that the ministry rented residences for pilgrims during Haj for 3,400 to 3, 600 Saudi riyals while the prices are actually around 1,500 riyals, adding that he had offered lower rates to the ministry but his quotation was rejected.

The Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of the issue and the apex court has asked for a reply from the ministry within 15 days. Trend Pk

Saudi prince alleges embezzlement in Pakistan Haj Scheme

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud has pointed out financial irregularities in Pakistan Haj scheme, Trend Pk reported Wednesday.

The Saudi prince, in a letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, accused the Federal Religious Affairs Ministry of funds’ embezzlement.

Under the Hajj scheme, the pilgrims were charged more for the residences rented by the ministry near Mecca and Madina, the letter states.

The Prince said that the ministry rented residences for pilgrims during Haj for 3,400 to 3, 600 Saudi riyals while the prices are actually around 1,500 riyals, adding that he had offered lower rates to the ministry but his quotation was rejected.

The Supreme Court has taken suo motu notice of the issue and the apex court has asked for a reply from the ministry within 15 days. Trend Pk

Al-Qaeda threatens attacks on the Royal family

Al-Qaeda militants threatened to launch fresh attacks on Saudi royal family members in a video message posted on the Internet on Tuesday commemorating a 2009 bombing targeting the interior minister.
We say to the tyrants that we can get you in your offices, we can get you in your bedrooms, said Qassem al-Rimi, a commander of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. I advise you to check before going to bed that there’s no suicide bomber or bomb in the room, Rimi added. An Al-Qaeda suicide bomber attacked Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism chief, Deputy Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, on August 27 last year as he was receiving members of the public. Al-Qaeda said it had also narrowly missed Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz in another attack last year as he flew into the Yemeni capital Sanaa on a visit. The group said it had attempted to target the visiting Saudi delegation with a surface-to-air missile and had also planned to shell the welcoming ceremony at the airport.

FM Qureshi to leave for Saudi Arabi today

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will leave for Saudi Arabia today for a two-day official visit.

Qureshi would hold meetings with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and his Saudi counterpart.

The sources said that Saudi leadership would take the foreign minister into confidence about the visit of Indian Prime Minister to Riyadh.

Sources further said that he would be informed about the cooperation sought by India to Saudi Arabia.

Swiss record taken into custody: NAB

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Board (NAB) has taken the record of Swiss cases into its custody, NAB spokesman said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court issued contempt of court notices to chiefs of NAB, FIA, interior ministry and officials of establishment division against the non-implementation of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

In a statement issued today (Monday), the spokesman said that two-member team was sent to London to get the record.

On the other hand, the seven-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said heard the graft case filed against FIA Additional DIG Ahmed Riaz Sheikh.

The chief justice issued notice to acting NAB chairman on NRO ruling.

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