Qatar is trying to exploit the pilgrimage season by making false allegations of the Kingdom barring Qataris to perform the Hajj. It has gone to the extent of even calling for internationalizing Makkah and Madinah. These bizarre allegations are even disturbing the common Qatari people. We are not touching on the Kingdom's service to the pilgrims because this is a duty performed by the Kingdom in serving God's Holy House. Millions of pilgrims from every spot around the world, including poor and rich, uneducated and scholars, men and women, and people of all races from different cultural, social and economic backgrounds, come to the holy places to stand before God. But Doha has been spending huge sums on media propaganda to discredit the Kingdom, though it has failed miserably. The meeting between Sheikh bin Abdullah Al-Thani and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Riyadh has exposed the failure of Qatari diplomacy in the eyes of the world and the Qatari people. Al-Thani belongs to the royal family, but a sane voice. However, despite his mediation efforts, the Qataris are unable to perform the Hajj this year. The Qatari authorities have apparently blocked the electronic registration system which all pilgrims, Saudis and non-Saudis, need to access and register. This is not a new system, but has been in place for many years. Riyadh had even set up special operations centers to facilitate the entry of Qatari pilgrims. It made arrangements for special flights for their travel from Dammam or Al Ahsa to Makkah after their entry into the Kingdom through the Salwa border. The special center was also for Qatari citizens seeking to visit their relatives in the Kingdom. The Qataris need not look far to understand who has blocked them from performing their sacred duty. The answer lies right at their doorstep with Doha depriving them this right. While the Kingdom respects Qatar's sovereignty, it has every right to deny the accusations hurled against it by the regime. It has the right to rise against Qatar's support for terror groups and its efforts to intervene in the internal affairs of other Arab countries, particularly its neighbors. The Qatari regime's attempts to maneuver the Haj politically for its own selfish gains will never succeed. The regime should take a cue from the Iranian experiment which has failed miserably and has backfired on it. Despite Iran's manipulations, the Kingdom did not bar Iranian pilgrims from performing Hajj. So, how can it ever deprive the Qataris from their religious duty? As for the claims made by a Qatari official that the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah did not respond to Doha's concern for the pilgrims' safety, it only goes to show how ‘dependent' the regime is – not really sovereign. Throughout the years, the safety of pilgrims has been paramount to the Kingdom. Riyadh has never looked for outside support to protect the guests of God's House and has never needed to provide assurances in this regard.
