Ever since the start of the illegal blockade in June, 2017, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been preventing Qatari citizens from travelling to those countries.

Saudi Arabia extended the blockade to the religious realm as well, putting up many checks and obstacles, thus preventing Qatari citizens from performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

But as their policies came under fire from around the world, they began trying to shift the blame to Qatar, saying they were preventing their citizens from performing their religious duties.

The Ministry said in a statement that they were in contact recently with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and discussed the challenges facing the citizens and residents of the State of Qatar.

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) August 1, 2018

However, Qatar has strongly refuted allegations that it was preventing its citizens from performing the Hajj or yearly pilgrimage to Mecca, reported Al Jazeera.

Qatar’s Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs firmly denied the claims, saying it regretted media campaigns that made those claims against them.

Riyadh claims that it welcomes Qatari pilgrims for Hajj, but in reality they are preventing Qatari citizens from practicing their right to worship. Saudi and UAE are politicising Hajj with their propaganda.#Gulfacrisis #Qatar #Saudi
pic.twitter.com/9mgArJprbV

— IstandWithQatar.org (@IstandWithQatar) July 30, 2018

It lamented the use of the holy Hajj for political purposes and said the phenomenon began after the start of the illegal siege, reported The Peninsula.

The Qatari entity said it recently got in touch with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in Saudi Arabia, discussing with them the challenges faced by Qatari citizens in performing the religious pilgrimages.

Although it had implored them to remove the obstacles in place, it continues to remain the same to this day.

“All the challenges still remain. The border crossing remains closed to Qatari citizens and residents seeking Hajj cannot travel by plane,” AWQAF said, according to Qatar Tribune.

“There were no planes transferring Hajj pilgrims from Doha to Jeddah, as is the case in all neighbouring countries. There was no clear mechanism for gaining a Hajj visa for residents of Qatar,” the statement said.

#Saudi stopping #Qatar citizens from performing #Hajj is counter-productive. Without Hajj revenues, the saudi organisation would collapse.

— Ameen Badrudeen Butt (@khwajasaab) August 1, 2018

Three clarifications

Awqaf said it wished to clarify certain things in relation to the obstruction allegations flying around the Internet.

1. There has been no breakthrough with regard to Qatari citizens being able to perform the Hajj. Qatari Hajj companies are still banned from entering Saudi Arasbia and no alternate arrangements have been put in place.

2. A number of violations against Qatari citizens has already been documented. While large number of people have been prevented from entering Saudi territory, others have been sent back from the Jeddah Airport. Awqaf said it showed that entry policies for Qatari pilgrims were selective and subject to whims of officials.

3. Media rhetoric against Qatar is still going strong in Saudi Arabia and this can cause safety issues for pilgrims travelling to the country.