Govt. allowed adequate foreign exchange for Haj pilgrims - Fowzie
 

By Mohammed rasooldeen in riyadh

THE Government allowed the Muslims who are interested in participating this year's Haj adequate foreign exchange for their travel abroad. We have no restriction on the number of pilgrims, said Railways, Transport, Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development Minister A.H.M. Fowzie.

The Minister arrived here by Emirates Airlines after attending the funeral of Dubai ruler, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, 62, who died while visiting Australia. The monarch was buried at the Zabeel mosque in Dubai, Thursday evening.

Fowzie who leads the Lankan Haj delegation said the Government is thankful to the Kingdom for allowing an enhanced number of pilgrims this year. Last year, he said, there were nearly 6,000 pilgrims from Colombo.

Even the Immigration Department had made arrangements to assist the Hajis to obtain their passports to meet the deadline set by the Saudi Embassy in Colombo for the issuance of passports", he said.

The Sri Lankan Ambassador in Saudi and Consul General in Jeddah are closely co-ordinating with the Government to provide the best facilities including health and accommodation to the pilgrims in the two holy cities of Mecca and Medinah, the Minister added. They are also being supported by a team of volunteers based in Jeddah, he added.

Meanwhile the last batch of Lankan Haj pilgrims arrived here at the Haj Terminal by Saudi Arabian Airlines with a load of 282 Hajis on Thursday.

Infrastructure Development and Fisheries Minister Athaullah Ahamed Lebbe Marikkar and Deputy Minister for Mass Media and Information Cegu Issadeen accompanies the final group of pilgrims.

Saudi Ambassador in Colombo Mohammed Mahmud Al Ali told Daily News that the mission issued 7,500 Haj visas within a short period for which a special team from Riyadh had to be deployed to process the additional visas.

The envoy said his mission made all arrangements to issue the visas to the pilgrims without any hassles. Most of them applied through their Haj operators."

Saudi Arabian Airlines carried the pilgrims in 16 special charters, while the others were ferried by airlines such as Kuwait Airways, Royal Jordanian Airways and Air Arabia.

The Minister will take up the 'Ceylon House' matter with the Saudi authorities. It is an endowment of a group of Sri Lankans for the Colombo pilgrims.

This year the Saudi caretaker of the property has not allowed the consulate to use the premises for Sri Lankan pilgrims since he had built a row of shops to serve his own purpose.

In 1963, the Ceylon House bought by a group of Sri Lankans made it an endowment for the use of pilgrims from Colombo.

The group led by late Y.L.S. Hameed who got the authority for the purchase of the land from the then monarch, King Saud, was meant to be used as an Arabic school for poor children during the off season.