International News
India’s Hajj assistance: A model of inclusiveness and efficiency
London, Jan 12: The annual Hajj pilgrimage, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, continues to test the faith of millions of Muslims and the administrative capacity of governments.
In India, the system of Hajj assistance has evolved into a model of inclusion and efficiency, ensuring equal access for pilgrims across diverse social and regional backgrounds.
Khaleej Times reported that from the moment an Indian pilgrim submits an application to the final rites at Arafat, Mina, and Muzdalifah, the Indian state plays a facilitative rather than intrusive role.
The emphasis is on service, not symbolism – providing safety, dignity, and equal opportunity without discrimination or privilege. According to Khaleej Times, the introduction of online applications, digital lotteries, and time-bound documentation has streamlined the process, reducing middlemen and discretion.
Whether a pilgrim comes from a metropolitan city or a remote district, the procedure remains uniform, with no fast tracks for the influential and no hidden barriers for the poor.
One of the most significant reforms, as highlighted by the newspaper, was the abolition of the Hajj subsidy in 2018.
While initially criticised, the move redirected funds toward education and welfare, while travel costs were rationalised through better negotiations with airlines and Saudi authorities. The result was a more transparent system where religious obligation was responsibly facilitated.
The newspaper also noted India’s inclusive approach to representation. Delegations include doctors, paramedics, sanitation workers, translators, and volunteers from across the country.
Medical missions provide free healthcare, particularly for elderly pilgrims, and Indian doctors have earned praise for their round-the-clock service in clinics across Mecca and Medina.
This is diplomacy expressed through service, not speeches. It is further reported that special attention has been given to women pilgrims. India’s decision to allow them to travel without a male guardian, in line with Saudi regulations, opened opportunities for widows, single women, and the elderly.
Inclusiveness is also reflected in language support, with training sessions, manuals, and helplines offered in multiple Indian languages to cater to diverse regions.
On the ground in Saudi Arabia, Indian officials coordinate accommodation, transport, food, and crowd management to ensure pilgrims are neither segregated nor disadvantaged.
The newspaper observed that India’s approach avoids religious exceptionalism, framing Hajj assistance within the broader constitutional promise of equality and freedom of religion.
For lakhs of Indian pilgrims, many of whom save for decades to undertake Hajj, this support is tangible – whether in the reassurance of a medical camp, the comfort of hearing one’s mother tongue abroad, or the confidence of consular help in times of distress.
India’s Hajj assistance framework stands as a quiet but powerful example of how a diverse democracy can honour devotion with dignity, it said.
The report also underlined that India’s facilitation of Hajj is part of a wider tradition of supporting major religious gatherings, from the Kumbh Mela to the Amarnath Yatra.
This parity strengthens national trust, showing that secular governance can embrace diversity without hierarchy.
For pilgrims, the journey is not only spiritual but also a lived testament to how democracy can deliver fairness in faith.
Tehran, May 5: Five civilians were killed in US attacks on cargo boats, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.
Following the claim by the US military that it had targeted six Iranian speedboats, and given that none of Iran’s combat vessels was hit, local sources were consulted to verify the nature of the incident, according to Xinhua, which quoted the report.
It was determined that US forces had attacked two small civilian cargo boats, which were travelling from Khasab along the Omani coast toward Iran, killing five civilian passengers onboard, it said.
Brad Cooper, chief of US Central Command, said on Monday that the US military had sunk six Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranian boats were struck by US Apache and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters, Cooper told a news conference.
Meanwhile, two US Navy destroyers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Gulf after navigating an Iranian barrage, US media outlet CBS News reported.
The USS Truxtun and USS Mason, supported by Apache helicopters and other aircraft, faced a series of coordinated threats during the passage, said the report, citing Pentagon officials, who spoke under condition of anonymity, on Monday night (local time).
No US warship was struck, though Iran launched small boats, missiles and drones against them as a sustained barrage, the officials were quoted as saying.
None of the projectiles launched by Iran reached the US vessels, they said, adding that the US military’s assisting efforts, bolstered by air support, successfully intercepted or deterred each incoming threat, reports Xinhua news agency.
US President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday that the Iranians are “more malleable” than they were before.
In a phone interview with Fox News, the president threatened that if Iran targets US ships in the Strait of Hormuz as the Pentagon begins operations to restore commercial shipping transit through the strait, they would be “blown off the face of the Earth.”
However, in another phone interview with ABC News on Monday, Trump stopped short of saying Iran’s Monday attacks had violated the US-Iran ceasefire.
“[It was] not heavy firing,” Trump said, downplaying the attacks.
Brad Cooper, chief of the US Central Command, told reporters earlier on Monday that Iranian forces had launched “multiple cruise missiles, drones, and small boats at ships we are protecting.”
US forces have sunk six Iranian small boats targeting civilian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and intercepted several Iranian missiles and drones, said Cooper.
Iran later rejected the US claims, saying that “no commercial vessels or oil tankers” have transited the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Tehran and other Iranian cities, killing then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded with waves of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US targets across the region and restricted passage through the Strait of Hormuz for vessels linked to Israel and the United States.
A ceasefire took effect on April 8, followed by talks between Iranian and US delegations in Islamabad that ended without a deal.
Tehran, May 4: The Navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Monday claimed that it hit a US Navy frigate with two missiles that sought to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The US frigate, which had set sail near Iran’s southern port city of Jask to cross the Strait of Hormuz “in violation of the traffic and shipping security,” was hit after ignoring the Iranian naval forces’ warning, Fars cited local sources as saying.
It added that after being struck, the frigate was forced to retreat and flee from the region.
However, according to a subsequent report by Axios, a senior US official denied that a US ship was hit by Iranian missiles, Xinhua news agency reported.
Iran has repeatedly announced that no movement is possible through the Strait of Hormuz without its official permission, and ignoring this warning will be met with a decisive response from the Iranian armed forces, according to Fars.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday the United States will guide ships stranded in the Strait of Hormuz safely out of the restricted waterway on Monday.
In response to Trump’s claim, Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned on Monday that “any foreign armed forces, especially the aggressive US army, will be attacked if they intend to approach and enter the Strait of Hormuz,” according to the official news agency IRNA.
Iran tightened its grip on the Strait of Hormuz beginning February 28, when it barred safe passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States following joint strikes on Iranian territory.
The United States imposed its anti-Iran blockade on the Strait of Hormuz after post-ceasefire negotiations with Tehran on April 11 and 12 failed to lead to an agreement.
Tehran, May 3: Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei condemned US President Donald Trump’s remarks that called the US seizure of Iranian vessels “piracy.”
“The president of the United States has openly described the unlawful seizure of Iranian vessels as ‘piracy,’ brazenly boasting that ‘we act like pirates,'” Baghaei said in an X post.
“This was no verbal slip. It was a direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation,” Baghaei added.
Trump on Friday bragged that the US Navy acted “like pirates” in its blockade of Iranian ports. “We took over the ship, we took over the cargo, we took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business,” Trump said at an event in Florida, Xinhua news agency reported.
Baghaei called on the international community, UN member states, and the UN secretary-general to firmly reject any normalization of such “blatant violations” of international law.
The United States imposed its anti-Iran blockade on the Strait of Hormuz after post-ceasefire negotiations with Tehran in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on April 11-12 failed to yield an agreement.
The ceasefire between Iran, the United States and Israel took effect on April 8 following 40 days of fighting. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Tehran and other Iranian cities, killing Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, senior commanders and civilians.
Iran responded with waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and US bases and assets in the Middle East, while tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz and denying safe passage to vessels linked to Israel and the United States.
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