What can be more shocking than to witness the complete indifference of this elected government to the untold sufferings and agony of our unfortunate Pakistani Hajis. It is shocking to hear, that out of 105 Haj flights operated until now by PIA, only one arrived on time while the rest were delayed. These delays extend to almost 16 hours. It has been a never ending tale of fatigue and misery for these innocent Hajis, who instead of being facilitated by the elected government, have been inconvenienced, robbed and than made to endure more anguish at the hands of the national airline.
Reports by Hajis arriving from Jeddah reveal that these flight delays are confined only to PIA as Jeddah Haj Terminal has more than adequate capacity to handle 80,000 Hajis at the same time, which exposes the excuse of PIA that alludes these delays to congestion at Jeddah. This Haj operation has been the most humiliating experienced by our Hajis who were not provided accommodation at Mina and Mecca, yet were overcharged by both the Haj Directorate and their own national airline.
It seems that conscience of those in power is in hibernation and they don’t fear even the wrath of Almighty Allah. How else can the competent executive authority justify the posting of a man as DG Haj, who has a past record of corruption and even conviction? Even the choice of MD, PIA is of a man with a controversial background, who has been accused of gross irregularities within the airline and has been involved in real estate mafia.
The fact that nobody has been punished by Federal Government only confirms that these robbers had the blessings of those in power. At the end of the day, people have to look forward to the Supreme Court of Pakistan for intervention and media to expose these gross irregularities. One wonders what purpose our parliamentarians serve. Why are they silent?
RASHID ORAKZAI
Quetta
