NEW DELHI: She’s never worn the
hijab before, but to perform her official duties, Moina Benazir, an officer of the Indian Defence Accounts Service, will don the head scarf as she sets out to mind nearly 1,300 women who will travel without their ‘mehram’ — male companions — to perform the Haj for the first time this year.
Benazir is the first woman officer of the Government of India to have been designated as Haj coordinator by the Union ministry of minority affairs. She will travel to
Jeddah along with four or five other Haj coordinators — all male — for a little over two months during which pilgrims undertake the Haj. Union minority affairs minister
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “This is the first time, ever, that a woman has been appointed Haj officer. Our purpose was to pick a woman so that she would be able to assist other unaccompanied women who will travel on the annual pilgrimage.”
Speaking to TOI, the 2005 batch officer serving as the Integrated Financial Advisor to the
Indian Air Force said she volunteered for the job after the cadre controlling authority advertised the post. “A post such as this one is prestigious, and to be able to represent India in a foreign location is a matter of honour. As a result, I applied and was selected after being interviewed by the ministry,” Benazir said.
The Indian contingent is expected to leave for Jeddah at the end of June and Benazir has been advised to not go out too often, not to travel unaccompanied, and to carry appropriate clothes on her foreign assignment. Responding to a poser on whether she’s worn the hijab before, the lady with the short crop laughed and said, “Even my grandmother never wore the hijab.”
It’s the magnitude of her responsibilities, though, that has the officer excited. She said, “We will be responsible for the pilgrims. The mandate includes facilitating safe and trouble-free pilgrimage for the women who travel without ‘mehram’. It includes helping people who have lost their travel papers, or who need any special assistance. We will be representing the Government of India and will be working through the Counsul General of India in Jeddah.”
Benzir, however, clarified she will not perform the Haj herself. “I will be on duty and I am not supposed to perform the Haj,” she said.
In what was termed as a ‘historic’ decision, the Centre had, earlier in 2017, for the first time decided to allow women pilgrims over the age of 45 to undertake the pilgrimage in groups of at least four without any male companions.