بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
After deadly Mecca stampede, Hizbut Tahrir calls for change in Saudi regime
by Zurairi AR
SERI KEMBANGAN, Oct 3 - Muslims must call for a change in the Saudi Arabia regime if they are troubled by the consistent deaths of hundreds of pilgrims during hajj in Mecca, international Islamist group Hizbut Tahrir (HT) said today.
Following a bloody stampede in Mina near the holy city last week, HT said Saudi Arabia has a dismal long history of ineptitude and carelessness that has caused "all kinds of disaster".
"Saudi authorities, they have a long history of all kinds of disasters befalling during the hajj season. Of course, every time they blame X, Y, Z. Many times they blame the pilgrim themselves,"
"We know from a fact that the Saudi authority is inept, and incapable and careless when it comes to really ensuring safety of the pilgrims," HT's international spokesman Osman Bakhash told reporters at the sidelines of the group's Muktamar Khilafah "Caliphate" 2015, a congress on establishing a caliphate.
Bakhash pointed at the deadly crane accident that happened barely weeks before the Mina stampede that killed over 100 pilgrims and injured nearly 400 of them.
"Across the world, you have hundreds of thousands of cranes being used without causing such massive casualties... The Saudi regime has a history of not really fulfilling their duty towards the pilgrim," added the director of HT's central media office.
Dr Mohammad Malkawi, a Jordan-born activist with United States chapter of HT, said the head of state should immediately take responsibility over such a bloody accident instead of delegating it to his underlings.
"If the government is proven to not be fit for it ... That government that is responsible for Islamic issues, should be replaced and removed and caliphate should come and be in charge.
"A caliph will never shirk his responsibility," Malkawi added.
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy ruled by King Salman Abdulaziz of the House of Saud, who also acts as the prime minister.
Saudi authorities have yet to provide a breakdown of the nationalities of the 769 Muslim pilgrims they say were killed in the haj stampede, but a number of countries have announced the deaths of their citizens.
The death toll given below by foreign officials and media is now 1,036, well in excess of the Saudi figure. Another 703 people remain unaccounted for.
Saturday October 3, 2015