Lankan Haj pilgrims arrive in Jeddah

Mohammed Rasooldeen in Riyadh

The first batch of 268 Sri Lankan pilgrims arrived at the Haj Terminal in Jeddah in a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight on Wednesday evening.

Ambassador Ahmed A Jawad, Consul General Dr Adam Bawa Uthumalebbe and officials from the Lankan consulate in Jeddah received them.

Jawad said the first group of pilgrims were out of the 3,151 pilgrims expected to arrive in the Kingdom during the season. The last group from the island will arrive in Mecca on October 20.

He said the embassy in cooperation with the consulate in Jeddah prepared its staff to serve the pilgrims.

Jawad said Saudi Arabian Airlines and SriLankan Airlines would carry pilgrims from Colombo this year.

The first batch of 275 pilgrims travelling in a SriLankan Airlines flight arrived in Jeddah yesterday. A total of 11 flights from both carriers have been arranged by the Haj Department. Uthumalebbe said his consulate deployed a team at the Haj Terminal to meet Sri Lankan pilgrims. The officials will offer refreshments to the pilgrims on arrival and attend to their needs till they leave for the holy cities.

He said his mission formed three teams in Mecca, Jeddah and Medinah to assist the pilgrims.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry sent two diplomats to the Saudi embassy in Colombo to issue Haj visas to Lankan pilgrims.

According to an official from the Saudi embassy in Colombo, the issuance of Haj visas to the pilgrims through travel operators was smooth.

The pilgrims were seen off at the Bandaranaike International Airport by Senior Minister in charge of Sri Lankan Haj operations A H M Fowzie, Western Province Governor Alavi Mowlana, Saudi ambassador in Colombo Abdul Aziz Al-Jammaz, consul Sultan Al-Dakheil, Saudi Arabian Airlines country manager for Colombo and Maldives Fikry Al-Towayan and Aero World managing director Kareem Shums. Speaking from Colombo, Minister Fowzie said this year those performing Haj for the first time have been given preference in the pilgrims' selection process.

" I have also stipulated a maximum charge of Rs 425,000 for each pilgrim that should include airfare, accommodation and internal travel," Fowzie said, warning that any travel operator who surcharge will be severely dealt with.

Fowzie thanked the Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for investing trillions of rupees to serve the pilgrims,who come to the holy cities of Mecca and Medinah from all parts of the globe.

"We appreciate the renovations work being done to improve the services for the pilgrims," he said, pointing out that the request for increased Haj quota was turned down not only to Sri Lanka but also to several other countries due to the development work within the holy sites.