Tragedy at Makkah

The Saudi authorities have announced 'overall plans' to modernise the holy cities of Makkah and Medina. It is a long-term perspective plan with a 20-year time-frame which should be welcomed for its projected comprehensive benefits. But on the scale of time, it is a long drawn-out scheme. But Eid comes ever year, so that millions of pilgrims will continue to throng the holy sites annually. It is our earnest hope that the essential precautionary steps will have been put in place before the next Eid-ul-Azha.

We know that it's a tall order, but meeting it will surely go along with the sentiments and expectations of the Muslims the world over. This was not the only time when such unfortunate loss of lives had taken place. Last year, fourteen pilgrims died during the same ritual while 35 lives were lost in 2001. Not to forget 118 people who died in 1998 with the worst accident being in 1990 when more than a thousand pilgrims were trampled to death or suffocated in a stampede in a tunnel in Mina.

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With the exalted status the Saudi authorities have as the 'guardian of the holy places' and the host country, we are hopeful of an early comprehensive solution to the stampede-related casualties during Hajj.