Re: Rs25000 Commission Per Haji Taken In Pakistan !!!
Hajj Odyssey Part 5: Powerful cartels stamp their authority on Hajj
—By Saeed Minhas
Whether it was the doing of a troika in the federal ministry – Agha Sarwar Qazalbash, his Joint Secretary Raja Aftabul Islam and former Hajj DG Rao Shakeel – or the incompetence-cum-political weaknesses of Hamid Saeed Kazmi, of Senator Salah Dogar or Senator Saleh Shah-led committee, a consensus seems to have emerged in the FIA circles, civil services, including its more powerful DMG group, the Presidency and PM circles, that this year’s pilgrims were hijacked by cartels from within the ministry and by its minister, resulting in the worst management.
Whether we examine it from an administrative point of view, or corruption or favouritism standpoints, anyone in the civil services is not ready to stand by Rao Shakeel and Qazalbash, nor is any cabinet member trying to give a shoulder to Kazmi. Yet, why is only one person made the scapegoat and why the rest – especially the secretary and his joint secretary, who are solely responsible for monitoring Rao Shakeel, Pakistani Ambassador Sher Zai, translator Behrullah Hazarvi, and scores of commission agents and middlemen in various stages of the entire affair, have not been taken to task by the higher authorities is a question making rounds in Islamabad.
Whether Shakeel got inducted because of a close friend of the premier from Multan (Senator Salahuddin Dogar) into this gory money-making tale or Qazalbash had developed some special love for the JUI-F deal, whether Raja Aftab was there to facilitate Qazalbash, Rao or the JUI-F, whether Sultan Shah – the acting Hajj DG – was busy finalising the commissions and cut-backs before, during and after Hajj or all of these abovementioned “honourables” were doing a justified job remains unanswered.
If Qazalbash is taking refuge behind an unwritten indemnity, thanks to the patronage of JUI-F leaders, Raja Aftab is busy doling out collected funds amongst investigators, Rao Shakeel is recalling help from friends made during his DCOship in Multan or whether Mr Gilani has got any clue about what went between Senator Dogar and Rao Shakeel, all this needs to be investigated into through a public inquisition, and not through some chambers of black robes, dungeons of the FIA or the proverbial internal inquiry.
In one of our previous episodes, we were discussing three phases of a mismanaged Hajj from the Pakistani perspective, revealing the role of the federal minister, secretary for religious affairs and various mafias hauling them around for merrymaking in the name of the most-sacred journey in a Muslim’s life.
Qazalbash denied a princely offer of 3,200 Saudi riyals within a two-kilometre radius of the Holy Mosque just to grab buildings, some of them sub-standard at 3,450 riyals within a radius of nine kilometres. The reason cited by the secretary to refuse the Saudi prince’s offer was that a parliamentary committee headed by Senator Saleh Shah had recommended that buildings should be obtained at 2,500 riyals and not 3,300, as earlier finalised by Shakeel.
The parliamentary committee that comprised bearded senators from almost all parties also included some who had a clear conflict of interest in undermining the whole process of renting the buildings because, like one PML-N senator, there were couple others who also had links with Hajj operators. The committee, as many in parliament and the ministry reveal, seems to have utilised this free tour to examine Hajj arrangements on the pretext of ensuring that some of their recommended people got picked up for ‘Khudamul Hajjaj’ (servants for pilgrims) or others appointed in Hajj missions in Makkah and Madina.
There were over 300 ‘Khudamul Hajjaj’, including some known names in journalistic circles, but mostly from serving and retired army personnel, from government hospitals and amongst the minister’s voters, appointed to help the pilgrims throughout the Hajj. But other than spotting them in government-provided ehrams, it was hard to spot them doing any duty that could be regarded as help. Even if you did spot them, they could hardly help you because either they didn’t know Arabic or they didn’t know the directions because they themselves were there just to collect commissions, allowances or perform Hajj at the ministry’s expenses.
During the last two nights in Mina, all these ‘Khudamul Hajjaj’ had an unabated money-making spree because the federal minister and DG Sultan avoided staying in that camp, fearing another lashing, and preferred to stay in another friendly country’s camp, thus leaving the clueless minister of state, Shagufta Jamani, and Raja Aftab with a host of other VIPs in charge of the camp.
Since there was no one to administer them, all these ‘Khudam’ started selling camp spaces at the Pakistan mission to outsiders and even to Bengali, Somali and other nationalities for 500 riyals per person. This got exposed when a young graduate from DG Khan with his wife and an aged mother, tried to come into camp to talk to the DG because he was living on the roadside for the last two nights, but was stopped, asking for the mandatory 500 riyals. When he threatened to set himself ablaze in front of the Pakistani mission camp, it was his luck that before he could find a matchbox, he found Sultan entering the camp. The young man was eventually allowed inside the camp in a corner of the already-cramped complaint cell.
To get people accommodated, for both the ‘Khudam’ and the missions, means a hefty TA/DA, as the ‘Khudamul Hajjaj; get around 75 to 100 riyals per day for almost 70 days of Hajj, while those appointed in Makkah and Madina know how to get in touch with the middlemen during the renting, and then selling tents to the bewildered pilgrims during their helpless days in Mina, while some others make money by selling ‘Aab-e-Zam Zam’, dates or rides to pilgrims.
The hefty TA/DA accumulated by Raja Aftab runs close to a million rupees, and millions more pocketed by over a dozen others from the ministry performing a temporary Hajj duty are just a few other perks which Qazalbash doled out throughout the Hajj.
Since Aftab was the secretary’s representative in the committee, his exemplary role in finalising the (sub-standard) buildings during the three months with Shakeel or showing utmost disrespect to the minister and minister of state, had so far gone unnoticed for some unknown reasons. First, he and Sultan refused to meet when Hamid Kazmi summoned them in Makkah where enraged pilgrims were protesting against the inadequate arrangements, and finally, the minister had to be rescued by the mission staff when the pilgrims tried to tear his clothes and his skin apart.
Later, when Raja was sitting in his air-conditioned tent in Mina, he refused to come and see Shagufta Jamani when she was listening to a pilgrim’s complaints in front of some journos and journalists-cum-Khudamul Hajjaj.(
www.dailytimes.com)