"The very next day, I boarded a bus to Kathmandu," says Nurani. When he arrived in Kathmandu, however, Nurani was informed that his flight had been postponed. "I don´t know till when," said Nurani. [break]
Nurani is accompanying his 65-year-old mother Sabra Sheikh to Mecca. He is now desperately waiting for his turn to board a plane to Mecca, where over five million Muslim pilgrims from across the world are expected to pray for five consecutive days beginning October 13 this year.
"It´s a religious duty I must fulfill once in my life," says Nurani. "But it´s been very difficult for me to go to Mecca."
With less than two weeks for the Hajj to begin, dozens of Muslim pilgrims from across Nepal are still struggling to fly for the pilgrimage. Most of them are now taking shelters at Nepali Jame Masjid, one of the oldest mosques in Nepal located just next to Ghantaghar in Kathmandu. Some are staying in Kashmiri Masjid, another mosque located in the vicinity.
Muslim pilgrims complain that they are compelled to stay in just one hall. Although the hall is spacious, there is just one toilet which all of them have to share. "For so many people, there is just one toilet," said a pilgrim, unwilling to be named. "Men and women both are forced to use the same toilet. We do not have separate bathrooms, either."
The Hajjis, as the Hajj pilgrims are known, say there are at least five toilets and bathrooms. But four toilets and bathrooms have been locked. "It feels very bad," quipped a Hajji. "We feel as if they are trying to tell us we are unworthy people."
The Hajjis are more furious with the Central Hajj Committee (CHC), a government body that arranges Hajj pilgrimage for Nepal´s Muslims. They complain that the CHC officials never clearly tell them whether or when they can fly for Mecca.
"If they clearly tell me that I cannot go on Hajj this year, I will go back home and wait until next year," said Nurani. "But they just ask me to wait. I am not certain whether I can make it this year." Nurani complains that the CHC has treated them as worthless people. "We have just been abandoned here," he said.
After waiting for about 10 days, Rahmatullah Khan, 45, a resident of Laxmanpur-9 of Banke, finally got a chance to fly for Mecca on Wednesday evening. However, until Wednesday morning, Khan was not sure whether he could make it to Mecca this year.
Khan, like Nurani, is accompanying his 72-year-old mother Sanufa Pathani to Mecca. "As we kept waiting, my mother grew restless," said Khan, adding, "She would tell me that she would never return home if she did not get to visit Mecca this year."
Luckily, Khan and his mother did not have to return home. "It´s very bizarre," says Khan. "We don´t know when we can fly until just a few hours before. All of a sudden, you´re asked to head toward the airport. If I knew when my flight was, I could have prepared my journey in a better way."
The CHC has not arranged exclusive flights for the Hajjis. As a result, only a few Hajjis can fly at a time. Khan says the CHC selects a few Hajjis only if there are some seats left in some plane. "This is why we are not informed about our flight schedules beforehand," says he.
The sufferings of the Nepali Hajjis appear to result from the CHC´s mistakes, if not mismanagement. Initially, the CHC sought just 800 quotas of Hajj pilgrims with the Saudi Arabia government. But the number of Muslim pilgrims applying to go for Hajj reached 1,057 this year.
In a bid to deal with the shortage of quotas, the CHC selected 800 Muslim pilgrims through the draw of lots. The rest pilgrims were asked to wait until next year. However, the CHC managed to get 200 more quotas later, paving the way for even those who did not get selected earlier to go to Mecca.
"By the time we got an additional 200 quotas approved, we were already too late to book tickets for them," says Abdul Kalam Khan, member secretary of the CHC. "Now, all flights to Saudi Arabia are jam-packed. So, whenever we get some seats, we send the Hajjis to Mecca."
According to Khan, more than 900 Hajjis have flown to Mecca until October 1. "We are trying hard to send the remaining Hajjis, too." says he. "It may take a few days more; but I would assure that all the Hajjis whose visas have been approved by the Saudi Arabia government will get to go to Mecca."
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