Fowzie signs Haj agreement

Mohammed RASOOLDEEN in Riyadh

Disaster Management Minister A.H.M. Fowzie signed the Haj agreement with Saudi Arabia's Haj Minister Fouad Al-Farsy in Jeddah Monday.

During the audience with the Saudi Minister, Fowzie asked the Kingdom to increase its Haj pilgrim quota. Western Province Governor Alavi Mowlana and Islamic Affairs Director Y.L.M. Navavi accompanied the Minister.

Mowlana hailed the efforts of Custodian of the Two Mosques King Abdullah for offering a wide range of services to foreign pilgrims who visit the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. Sri Lankan Ambassador Ahmed A. Jawad and Consul General Sabarullah Khan also took part.

"We are insisting on a minimum quota of 8,000 pilgrims since an increasing number of the island's Muslim population is interested in performing the pilgrimage every year," Fowzie told the Daily News.

The minister recalled that the Saudi authorities had increased the number of pilgrims from 2,850 to 5,500 at the eleventh hour in response to a special request from President Mahinda Rajapaksa last year.

However, the Sri Lankan government could not send many more pilgrims as the decision was made at the last minute.He said new developments in the country had paved the way for the free movement of the people within the island, which encouraged more Muslims to perform the pilgrimage.

He said that he had requested an increased quota of pilgrims to cope with the expected increase in demand from pilgrims living in liberated areas.

"Following the liberation of rebel-held areas, more Muslims from the island's eastern and north central provinces are free to travel within and from the island," Fowzie said.

"Muslims were also victims of terror. They were chased out from the north by Tamil rebels and they had to abandon their properties as a result of terror."