Jeddah- Saudi Arabia’s culture and information minister Dr. Awwad Bin Saleh Al-Awwad welcomed all Qataris looking forward to joining this year’s Hajj pilgrimage.

Doha’s attempts to politicize the religious rite is a step down the wrong road, said Awwad.

Speaking at the ATQ (Anti-terror Quartet) meeting in Jeddah, Awwad stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s Holiest site, takes great concern in facilitating Hajj.

The Kingdom exerts its utmost efforts to make the Hajj a success, he said.

Citing Saudi Arabia’s hosting pilgrims time and time again, Awwad said that the kingdom has proved throughout history its success in providing its services to the pilgrims.

The meeting, whose objective is to boost joint action to discuss media issues of concern to the countries calling for combating terror and coordinating stances against the tendentious Qatari media campaigns supporting violence and extremism and spreading hate speech, comes as an extension of the previous meeting in Cairo.

Awwad considered Qatar making the choice of politicizing Hajj to be equivalent to political bankruptcy by which Doha intends to create confusion and exploit the religious ritual for its own ends.

He added that throughout modern history Qatar is the second country to politicize Hajj. Before it, Iran tried and its efforts totally failed.

Awwad stressed that the Qatari people are welcome this year (for Hajj) like every year. Several options have been presented to Qatari pilgrims to perform Hajj rites with ease and comfort.

He further said the Qataris wishing to perform Hajj should not believe the false propaganda stating that they are forbidden from performing Hajj.

The Kingdom welcomes all Muslims from all over the world and spares no effort in facilitating Hajj so that the pilgrimage is comfortable and offers a peace of mind.