India to seek passport waiver for Haj pilgrims

Saudi Arabias decision to not allow Haj pilgrims on special passes has put the Government in a tight spot.

Saudi Arabias decision to not allow Haj pilgrims on special passes has put the Government in a tight spot. It is now planning to request the Gulf country to defer by one year its move to make it mandatory for all Haj pilgrims to have normal passports.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said India would make this request during the meeting with Saudi officials in Jeddah on February 8. A delegation of Haj Committee of India members,along with senior officers from the MEA,would participate in the meeting.

Saudi Arabia recently informed the MEA that from this year,visas for Haj pilgrims will be issued only on normal passports and not on Haj pilgrim passes as has been the practice so far. The MEA has conveyed this to the Haj Committee of India,which organises the annual pilgrimage.

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Sources in the MEA told The Indian Express that Saudi Arabia had been asking India to do away with the practice of allowing Haj pilgrims on special passes for sometime because of safety and security reasons,but the Government had so far managed to stall its implementation. All the countries will have to accept such rules and regulations put in force by the Saudi Government, a senior official said. They have been asking us for the past two years and we have been postponing it. This time they have made it clear that only passport holders would be allowed from this year.

The Haj Committee of India also wants the decision deferred as it feels pilgrims from rural areas would not be able to procure passports in such a short time. We want the decision to be implemented from next year. We are going to request the Saudi Government through our Ministry of External Affairs not to implement the decision from this year, said committee chairman Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi.