Hajj registration
Chaos at HAAB emergency meeting
STAFF REPORTER
The emergency general meeting (EGM) of the Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) ended yesterday amid chaos in Dhaka. Irate members of the association started demonstrating after failing to draw the attention of the leadership to their demands. The meeting was convened to look into alleged irregularities and mismanagement regarding pilgrims pre-registration.
As HAAB president Ibrahim Bahar tried to conclude the EGM held at the Officers Club hall room without giving a chance to the dissenting members to deliver speeches, they started protesting, witnesses said. According to the witnesses, some leaders of HAAB, including its president Bahar, were assaulted. The situation was, however, brought under control after senior members including former president Jamal Uddin Ahmed, Abdus Sobhan Bhuiyan, Rashid Shah Samrat and Kazi Sarwar intervened.
Later, at a press conference, Bahar said the Hajj agents had decided not to complete the pilgrims registration process until the government cancelled their contract with the information technology (IT) farm Business Automation Limited.
Bahar raised several allegations of irregularities and technical forgeries against the IT farm.
He said although the Hajj agents had submitted complaints of irregularities during the pre-registration process to the authorities concerned and a writ petition was under trial, the religious affairs secretary on March 22 issued an order to complete the registration process between March 28 and 30.
Terming the secretarys decision as illegal, Bahar said, The order of the secretary is illegal. The decision was taken to create chaos. Its a conspiracy against Hajj agents and pilgrims.
When asked about the agitation, Bahar said, The HAAB committee called the meeting to discuss the pre-registration mismanagement. Everything was decided after the speeches of senior leaders. Some members, however, were trying to create chaos.
However, HAAB Democratic United Front panel leader Abdus Sobhan Bhuiyan and Association of Travel Agencies of Bangladesh (ATAB) secretary general Aslam Khan told this correspondent that HAAB leaders were also involved with the irregularities regarding the registration.
The order of the secretary was issued at 4.30pm on March 22 and the message of convening an emergency meeting was given at 4.45pm, only 15 minutes after the issuance of the letter.
How is this possible? They did it deliberately to put the agencies in trouble so that they cannot complete the registration on time, alleged Abdus Sobhan Bhuiyan and Aslam Khan.
The two leaders said the irate Hajj agents were eager to discuss the issue in the meeting. But the HAAB leaders didnt allow them. And then, a section of HAAB members demonstrated during the meeting, they added.
