Pilgrims flock to Karbala to mark festival of Ashoura

BAGHDAD: Hundreds of thousands of Shiites flocked to Karbala and other shrines across Iraq on Thursday to mark a festival known as Ashoura.

The event marks the anniversary of the 7th century death of Imam Hussein, who was slain in battle near Karbala.

Sunni insurgents in Iraq have frequently targeted Shiite shrines and large religious festivals, and killed thousands of pilgrims since 2004. They have also attacked Iranian pilgrims, very few of whom were allowed to visit Iraq’s holy sites under the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.

Ashoura is expected to peak on Thursday and Friday when the pilgrims – many walking hundreds of miles (kilometres) to reach Karbala to commemorate Imam Hussein’s suffering while dying on the battlefield – converge on the city.

Hussein was the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson.

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

First Hajj flight from Karachi carries 450 pilgrims to Jeddah

Staff Report

KARACHI: The first Hajj flight from Karachi has carried 450 pilgrims to Jeddah, as national air line of the country has started its Hajj operation on Tuesday morning.

The first Hajj flight PK-1661 carrying more than 450 pilgrims left from Karachi Hajj terminal at 5:50 am for Saudi Arabia.

Many social and religious organizations installed special camps at Hajj terminal to provide assistance to the pilgrims.

The pilgrims, leaving for Makkah to perform their Hajj, said on the occasion that they will also pray for Pakistan and all Muslims. SAMAA

First Hajj flight from Karachi carries 450 pilgrims to Jeddah

Staff Report

KARACHI: The first Hajj flight from Karachi has carried 450 pilgrims to Jeddah, as national air line of the country has started its Hajj operation on Tuesday morning.

The first Hajj flight PK-1661 carrying more than 450 pilgrims left from Karachi Hajj terminal at 5:50 am for Saudi Arabia.

Many social and religious organizations installed special camps at Hajj terminal to provide assistance to the pilgrims.

The pilgrims, leaving for Makkah to perform their Hajj, said on the occasion that they will also pray for Pakistan and all Muslims. SAMAA

Celebrations of Shahbaz Qalandar’s Urs begins

SEHWAN SHARIF: The 758th Urs celebrations of Sufi saint Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar formally opened in Sehwan Sharif today.

Sindh Aukaf Minister Abdul Haseeb has opened the Urs being attended by thousands of devotees, who gathered here from every corner of the country.

Special arrangements have been put in place by the provincial government to facilitate the pilgrims.

33 dead in Baghdad suicide attacks

BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber and a series of attacks in Baghdad have killed 33 Shiite pilgrims gathering for a major festival with 99 others wounded, Iraqi security officials say.

The suicide attack, in Adhamiyah, a Sunni district, killed 28 people, with 63 others wounded, an interior ministry official said.

The area is across the Tigris river from Kadhimiyah, an area named after Musa Kadhim, the seventh of 12 revered imams in Shiite Islam, whom pilgrims are honouring.

Five other pilgrims were killed and 36 wounded in separate bomb attacks, police said.

Rare, Heavy rains soak Pilgrims in Haj

Rare, heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into Mecca, snarling Islam’s annual hajj as millions of Muslims headed for the holy sites. The downpours add an extra hazard on top of intense concerns about the spread of swine flu.

Pilgrims in white robes porting umbrellas, some wearing face masks for fear of the flu, circled the black cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca, the opening rite for the hajj. But the shrine — Islam’s holiest site — and the nearby, rain-soaked streets did not see the usual massive crowds, because many tried to stay inside nearby hotels or were caught up in the traffic jams heading into the city.

The hajj — a lifetime dream for Muslims to cleanse their sins — is always a logistical nightmare, as a population the size of a small city moves between Mecca and holy sites in the nearby desert over the course of four days.

In the past, the rites have been plagued by deadly stampedes caused by congestion as the massive crowds perform the rituals — and Saudi authorities Wednesday were clearly concerned the rains could worsen the potential dangers. Civil authorities urged pilgrims to move cautiously and not to rush.

This year has brought the added worry that the massing of more than 3 million people from around the world could bring a swine flu outbreak. For months ahead of the pilgrimage, the Saudi government has been working with the United States’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention to set up clinics and precautionary measures to stem any outbreak.

So far, four pilgrims have died from the H1N1 virus since arriving in Saudi Arabia in recent days, and 67 pilgrims have been diagnosed with the virus, Saudi Health Minister Abdullah Al Rabeeah told the Arab news network Al Jazeera English.

Shahul Ebrahim, a consultant from the Atlanta, Georgia-based CDC at the hajj, said it was too early to tell if the rains could exacerbate the spread of H1N1, the flu virus.

‘Rain can lead to other waterborne diseases … such as the common cold, flu. But we still don’t know how it will effect H1N1. We can’t predict,’ he told The Associated Press.

So far, the rain was mainly just causing traffic snarls. Winter is the rainy season in Mecca, and light showers are not uncommon, but such a heavy downpour has not been seen for years during hajj. The pilgrimage takes place according to Islam’s lunar calendar, and so rotates through the year.

Civil Defense spokesman Maj. Abdullah Al Harthi said his organization has plans ready to deal with flooding, including 300 buses to evacuate pilgrims if necessary. He said no casualties have been reported from the rains, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

One lane of the main road into Mecca was closed by flooding, reducing it to one lane, said Amer Al Amer, an Interior Ministry spokesman. ‘It cannot handle the pressure of all the people coming from outside Mecca,’ he said, adding that it would cause delays of several hours for people trying to reach the sites.

The numbers of pilgrims are expected to exceed last year, when some 3 million attended, Al Amer told AP.

Streets were flooded in the Red Sea coastal city of Jiddah, the entry point for many pilgrims. Pilgrims on Wednesday were making their way to Mecca to perform the circling of the Kaaba and to the nearby desert valley of Mina, where a sprawling tent city has been set up for them to reside in.

Water covered the floors in many of the tents, said Suleiman Hamad, a 29-year-old pilgrim in Mina. He said the scene was ‘muddy, but manageable,’ with many pilgrims throwing blankets over their heads when they walked outside.

Rain fell sporadically throughout the day, and stopped by late afternoon in many sites — though it continued to fall in Mecca. Al Amer and other authorities were optimistic that flooded areas would dry by evening. Courtesy khaleejtimes.com

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Rare, Heavy rains soak Pilgrims in Haj was first posted on November 25, 2009 at 8:32 pm.

President Obama urges Karzai to uproot corruption

The US President Barack Obama has asked Afghan President Hamid Karzai to speed up efforts to eliminate corruption from the country, adding that a new chapter of relations should open between American and Afghanistan.

US President telephoned and congratulated Afghan President Karzai for becoming president for the second term after the formal announcement by the election commission. US President told his Afghan counterpart that this was the right time to open new chapter of relations between two countries

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President Obama urges Karzai to uproot corruption was first posted on November 3, 2009 at 9:07 pm.

Swine flu warning to British Hajj Pilgrims

Health experts from the Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) UK (ABH), a National Hajj specific organization express their grave concern about the safety and wellbeing of over 25,000 British Hajj pilgrims who will start traveling from next week to join more than 2 million people from all over the world to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The health experts are concerned that despite a clear advice from Saudi Arabian Government and the World Health Organisation (WHO) a substantial number of high risk categories i.e. people who suffer from chronic disease, pregnant women, children under 12 and those aged over 65 are travelling to perform Hajj without getting vaccinated against the swine flu which can result in serious consequence effecting the people and the health system.

The health experts are issuing a last-minute warning to the prospective pilgrims that they should be prepared for the screening process that is taking place at all ports of entry to Saudi Arabia. If pilgrims are suspected of having swine flu then they will be temporarily quarantined and if tested positive they will be admitted to hospital for isolation.

The pilgrims must take the threat of swine flu seriously and they should take all necessary precautionary measures to safeguard their health. They should make personal hygienic habits such as covering the nose while sneezing, coughing into a tissue and washing hands with water and soap. They should also utilise the personal hygiene kit that includes face masks and hand sanitizers which will be made available to them by the Saudi authorities at the airport upon arrival.

Khalid Pervez, General Secretary of ABH advised that “prospective British Hajj pilgrims should take lead of Egypt which has made health insurance coverage mandatory for all their pilgrims so that they would not have any problem in getting treatment in Saudi hospitals”.

Khalid Pervez , General Secretary

Association of British Hujjaj (Pilgrims) UK (A.B.H), Southside Business Centre

Tel: +44 (0)121 440 1700. E-mail: abh12@btconnect.com , Website: http://www.abhuk.com

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Swine flu warning to British Hajj Pilgrims was first posted on November 3, 2009 at 9:13 pm.

Uproot Taliban: NATO Chief

KABUL: NATO’s new secretary-general pledged Wednesday that the alliance would remain in Afghanistan despite flagging support in many nations from voters anxious over rising deaths among civilians and Western forces.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen flew to Kabul to meet with politicians and military leaders two days after taking control of an alliance that is struggling to maintain its cohesion and relevance as it battles Taliban insurgents thousands of miles (kilometers) from Europe.

“I can assure you and the Afghan people that we will stay and support you for as long as it takes to finish our job,” the former Danish prime minister told Afghan President Hamid Karzai at a joint press conference in the capital, Kabul.

Some 65,000 troops from 42 nations serve in a NATO-led force hobbled by disagreements over the need for more troops, and widely divergent national restrictions on when troops can fight. Recent polls show majorities in Britain, Germany and Canada oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan, even as President Barack Obama moves in U.S. forces.

July was the bloodiest month for the U.S. and NATO in the nearly eight-year war, and the U.N. says civilian deaths soared by 24 percent in the first half of 2009.

Civilian deaths in Western airstrikes and ground operations aimed at Taliban forces are causing deep resentment among Afghans.

Outraged villagers near the southern city of Kandahar said a Western airstrike before dawn Wednesday had killed three children and a man in their village of Kowuk.

Fogh Rasmussen did not address the charges but said, without providing figures, that there had been “a drastic decline in the number of civilian casualties” because of restrictions imposed by U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took command of NATO and U.S. forces last month.

McChrystal ordered troops to limit the use of airstrikes and avoid clashes that could lead to civilian deaths.

“It is our clear intention to do everything possible to reduce the number of civilian casualties to an absolute minimum,” Fogh Rasmussen said.

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