Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The family of detained Pakistani pilgrim on Tuesday sought Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar’s help in bringing him back home.

Abdul Ghafoor Khan S/O Haji Ghandal, CNIC No 17101-2962811-3 and Passport No NY4138111, went missing from near Masjid-e-Nabvi on the second day of his arrival in Madina.

Imdadullah Khyal, the son of the detained person, asked the CJP to take suo motu action to locate his father.

Another tragic aspect of the mismanagement of Hajj-2016 is that many pilgrims are in the Saudi jails over petty issues, while others are still reportedly missing even after the lapse of more than 140 days. There are credible reports that the Saudi officials are not cooperating with their Pakistani counterparts regarding the issue of missing pilgrims.

According to briefing of the Hajj director general to the Senate’s Committee on Religious Affairs, as many as 10 pilgrims are missing and 3 others are languishing in Saudi jails.

Abdul Ghafoor was detained by Saudis on August 19, 2016 and he is still in their custody. The Religious Affairs Ministry officials hide the facts surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the detained and missing pilgrims.

Dozens of pilgrims have confirmed categorically that Abdul Ghafoor was kept in secret detention.

Khyal said, “Despite being conversant with case of my father, the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Hajj Directorate Jeddah and Federal Minister for Religious affairs, do not bother to pick up my repeated telephonic calls for getting updates about the progress done so far”.

Khyal wrote numerous letters and emails to the president, prime minister, CJP, army chief and Inter-Services Intelligence director general for solving the matter but in vain.

Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Yousuf asserted that he has sent the Hajj DG to Saudi Arabia to resolve the issue and he will inform Imdad about the situation. But after the return of the DG, the minister is not picking up the phone.