Saudis should accept consultation from other countries on Hajj security: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Ibrahim Moussawi, a political commentator in Beirut, to share his thoughts on the deadly incident during the Hajj pilgrimage in the Saudi city of Mina.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We already know that this is one of the deadliest incidents that has ever occurred in the history of the Hajj pilgrimage and the Hajj rituals in Saudi Arabia, yet we have not had any sort of apology coming from the Saudi family, the royal family, the King, as to actually apologize to the people who have lost loved ones in this terrible tragedy.

Moussawi: Indeed. Actually this is a very tragic event that has taken place in Saudi Arabia. This is not the first and the last if it continues the way it is. Actually this is a call, this is a warning, this is an awakening cry for all of the governments who have a lot of pilgrims, who go to Mecca every year, that they should come together and unite in order to exercise pressure over the Saudi government to acknowledge its responsibility in the first place, because the Saudi government should be held responsible for what happened.

This is a kind of negligence, this is a kind of reckless behavior from the authorities there, and this is something that they should be held responsible for. A very transparent investigation should start right now and the Saudis should open the way and the door wide for all kinds of investigations to take place, not only investigation that takes place inside Saudi Arabia and from the Saudi authorities, but also from other governments, from other countries whose pilgrims have passed away in this tragic event.

We want to take the opportunity in order to express our condolences and consolation for the families to say this is very sad, this is very tragic but at the same time this should bring us into a place where we have to do something very important, something very urgent, in order to stop such kind of things to happen at the pilgrimage. People go there in order to worship God, in order to come in their ascending spiritual journey towards God and towards spirituality when they are being faced with this kind of negligence.

The problem is not only about the events happen, things happen, accidents happen, but in the aftermath and the way that the Saudi official authorities dealt with the issue was equally saddening and shocking for all of the people, especially if we listen to those who have been hurt, those who survived the accident, they explained a lot about the negligence and about how the Saudi authorities mismanaged the whole thing.

If it is about mismanagement these things happen, they should accept consultation, they should accept help from other countries, otherwise we will continue to see such events happening every now and then.

Another thing we have to talk about has to do with the culture, the culture of such events. They have to understand that no official in Saudi Arabia, no official from any nationality, should be given any kind of red carpet treatment in such event and in such occasions, because people are all equal.

We know the deep essence of the pilgrimage journey is that people feel equal. You go there with your white dress, you have nothing as if you are coming from your tomb in your coffin in the doomsday and you are in the hands of God. So if this is the lesson that we should get from the Hajj, from the pilgrimage, then this should be applied to everybody.

It has been said that the whole accident has taken place because a kind of measure has been taken to allow way for a certain official or group of officials who came to the pilgrimage. This is again a very important thing that should be investigated thoroughly and everyone should be held responsible and should be punished and enough measures should be taken so such things will not happen in the future.

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