Violence will not be tolerated, says Saudi Prince Nayef
Nayef hopes that the government would not "be obliged to resort to force"
Makkah Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior and Chairman of Supreme Haj Committee, warned on Sunday against any attempts to disrupt the security and peace of this year's Haj.
"We will not tolerate any violation of the Haj security from any individual, group, or any other side," Prince Nayef said during a press conference in Arafat, 15 kilometres from Makkah, following his inspection of the holy sites.
He hoped that the government would not "be obliged to resort to force" to maintain security during the Haj.
When asked about recent calls by Iranian figures for politicising the Haj, Prince Nayef said, "We have heard contradictory statements from the brothers in Iran, but the latest were favourable. The Iranian officials have arrived and we hope the brothers will just focus on their Haj rituals. The Kingdom will not allow anything to be done in the Haj other than what Allah has made permissible."
"We wouldn't accept for any pilgrim to be harmed," he said.
In response to a question on the current military operations against infiltrator attacks along the border with Yemen, Prince Nayef did not rule out cooperation between infiltrators and Al Qaida group in Yemen.
The Kingdom has not made any communication with any side linked to armed infiltrators and "we are only communicating with the Yemeni government," he said.
