Hajj pilgrims' list for police verification by Aug 30
The Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) will submit a list of hajj passengers to the government within August 30 for police verification.
"We have prepared thana and district wise list of hajj passengers and will send it to the hajj office in city's haji camp within August 30," Mohammed Ibrahim Bahar, president of HAAB told The Daily Star yesterday.
He also said," The special branch of police will send the list to respective thanas for verification."
The government took the decision in the wake of allegations that Rohingyas went to Saudi Arabia as hajj pilgrims with Bangladeshi passports, overstayed there and engaged in criminal activities, tarnishing the image of the country.
Announcing the decision on Thursday, Home Minister Shahara Khatun directed the intelligence and law enforcement agencies to prevent suspected war criminals, Rohingyas and militants from leaving the country in the guise of hajj pilgrims.
Hailing the government's decision, Ibrahim said the passport issuance authorities should be more serious in this regard and examine the attestation. It is tough for agents to identify the real hajj pilgrims from illegal immigrants because passports received are all issued by Bangladesh.
Around 94,900 pilgrims will be making the journey to Saudi Arabia this year. Of them, 87,000 are going under the private management and 6,500 under the government's scheme. Last year, 58,000 pilgrims went for hajj.
There will be other scrutiny as well to ensure that real hajj pilgrims go to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.
The hajj agents have already received around 95 percent of the passports and will submit those to the hajj office soon for scrutiny before visa, he said.
The hajj office will interview the suspects if needed and eliminate those who are not real hajj pilgrims, Ibrahim said, adding that the agents will refund the deposited money back to clients.
Moreover, there will be another checking at the immigration, he said.
"We want to carry out a complete filtering so that the real pilgrims can go to Hajj," Ibrahim said.
The HAAB president said the hajj agents conduct an unofficial check of the underage hajj passengers.
Generally people over 40 years go to perform hajj in Bangladesh, but when they find underage passengers, they unofficially ask whether their parents perform hajj. "We also ask them to show their bank statement," he added.
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