Government | Thursday 15 September, 2016 12:39 pm |

The once-in-a-lifetime journey of faith, endurance and determination for the hundreds of thousands of Muslims from 164 countries came to a successful end on Wednesday. Haj 2016 is being described as an overwhelming success.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif has hailed the great efforts exerted by the security forces and the military to ensure the security and safety of pilgrims.
He paid tributes to the men in uniform for helping pilgrims perform their rituals with ease. He made the comments during his visit to the command and control center in Mina.
The crown prince highlighted the security efforts and urged security forces to exert more efforts to ensure the safety and security of the citizens.
He expressed pride in the great efforts of all those who played a role in the pilgrimage, stressing that their dedication in aiding the pilgrims perform their rituals in peace had made the entire country proud.
He visited several departments, like those monitoring the high-tech CCTVs, traffic operations and security details.
In Mina, relief was writ large on the faces of the pilgrims, many of whom were here in the autumn of their lives as was evident from the deep furrows on their brows.
Pilgrims woke up early on Wednesday and began throwing seven pebbles each at the three huge concrete structures representing the devil straight after sunrise.
All the rituals were carried out in a calm atmosphere and free of any political demonstrations.
On the outskirts of Mina, bus drivers shouted, “Haram! Haram!” the Arabic name for the Grand Mosque as pilgrims piled aboard.
After living in spartan conditions for the past week, the pilgrims started for Jeddah to catch flights back home or to Madinah.