The Ministry of Religious Affairs informed the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday that 75 Pakistanis died in the Mina stampede, whereas 28 others were still missing.
The ministry submitted these details in a reply filed through a deputy attorney general before Justice Ayesha A Malik who was hearing an application seeking directions for disclosing all casualties of Pakistani pilgrims in the stampede to the public.
The application was filed by Arif Idrees, a citizen, in a pending petition.
The ministry submitted that 47 Pakistani pilgrims were injured in the incident whereas 42 had been discharged from hospitals after recovery.
The ministry said efforts were being made to find the missing pilgrims. At this, the court adjourning the hearing till October 8 directed petitioner to review the details and file replication if he wanted.
The petitioner through his application submitted that international media reported that 286 pilgrims of Pakistan had died in the incident but officials of the ministry were misleading people by trying to minimise the death toll.
He said day by day the number was increasing and relatives of missing pilgrims were worried about whereabouts and lives of their loved ones but proper information was not being provided.
Questioning the performance of ministry officials, he requested the court to issue directives to the ministry to provide true details about the casualties and injured pilgrims in Mina incident.
