Saudi Arabia denies report on barring Syrians from Haj

SAUDI Arabia yesterday denied allegations that the kingdom has barred citizens of war-hit Syria from performing the annual Muslim pilgrimage while local media said it has refused to increase Haj country quotas.

"The kingdom is currently working on finalising all measures needed in coordination with the concerned authorities to enable Syrian pilgrims to perform" the pilgrimage, Haj Ministry undersecretary Hatem Qadi said.

The kingdom "provides them with all facilities" needed and "is giving special care to arrangements for the arrival of Syrians, knowing the difficult circumstances experienced by the brotherly people of Syria," Qadi told AFP.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia has barred Syrians from entering the country for the Haj.

"The Syrian High Committee of Haj has announced the halt to the pilgrimage this year, due to a failure to reach consensus with the Saudi authorities," SANA said.

The Syrian committee "took all necessary steps for the 2012 Haj season, but the relevant ministry in Saudi Arabia did not sign the accord that it does every year," it added.

Yesterday, local dailies in Saudi Arabia reported that Riyadh has rejected requests by 40 countries to increase their Haj quota this year because of development projects now under way in the two holy cities of Mekah and Medina.

"The ministry has apologised to all countries which had asked to increase the number of their pilgrims this year... (because of) the giant development projects in Mekah and Medina which make it difficult to accommodate more numbers," Haj Minister Bandar al-Hajjar was reported as saying.

Every Muslim country has a Haj quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million inhabitants.

Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed the Haj, the world's largest annual gathering.

The authorities had not indicated that they would be able to accommodate more pilgrims this year. Saudi King Abdullah has officially launched a US$10.6-billion extension project of the Grand Mosque in Mekah. The peak of this year's Haj is expected to take place on or around October 25.

AFP