Hajj and Umrah are both very important factors of Islam and Hajj once in a lifetime is compulsory for any Muslim, who can afford it. The government has a policy that they send their employees for Hajj every year but there again is a quota. Our esteemed rulers, who go for this Islamic ‘fareeza’ on government money, seem to be ridiculing the foundations of their principles and even faith. I just couldn’t help laughing when, on a private TV channel I heard Mr. Shahid Siddiqui, an economist, commenting on the possibility of a 15 billion dollar bailout by the Saudi government, what was laughable was the fact that this depended on Mian Nawaz Sharif’s going for Umrah after becoming the Prime Minister, and meeting with the Saudi monarch to plead for the terms of it being an aid or a grant!
His mention of going for Umrah, after taking over as the PM was sounded mechanical albeit natural and spontaneous. But if it is, I sincerely hope that the PM will not take with him a plane load of the freeloaders to the most sacred house.
COL. RIAZ JAFRI (RETD),
Rawalpindi, May 24.