First group of Lankan Haj pilgrims arrives

The first group of 268 Sri Lankan pilgrims arrived Wednesday at the Haj Terminal in Jeddah on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight.
Ambassador Ahmed A. Jawad, Consul General Adam Bawa Uthumalebbe and officials from the Sri Lankan Consulate in Jeddah welcomed the group at the airport.
At the Colombo airport, the pilgrims were seen off by senior minister in charge of Sri Lankan Haj operations Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie, Western Province Gov. Alavi Mowlana, Consul General in the Saudi Embassy Sultan Al-Dakheil, Saudi Arabian Airlines Country Manager for Colombo and Maldives Fikry Al-Towayan and Aero World Managing Director Kareem Shums.
Jawad said the first group of pilgrims was part of the 3,151 pilgrims expected to arrive in the Kingdom during the season. The last group from the island would arrive in Makkah on Oct. 20.
Jawad said the embassy and the consulate in Jeddah have prepared its staff to serve the pilgrims. This year only the Saudi Arabian Airlines and SriLankan Airlines would ferry the pilgrims from Colombo.
SriLankan Airlines flew in its first group of 275 pilgrims to Jeddah yesterday. A total of 11 flights from both carriers have been arranged by the department of Haj headed by Mohammed Nawavi in Colombo.
Consul General Uthumalebbe said his consulate has deployed a team at the Haj Terminal to meet and greet Sri Lankan pilgrims. The officials will offer refreshments to the pilgrims on arrival and attend to their needs until they leave for the holy cities. He added that his mission had formed three teams in Makkah, Jeddah and Madinah to assist the pilgrims.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry sent two diplomats to the Saudi Embassy in Colombo to issue Haj visas to Sri Lankan pilgrims.
According to an official from the Saudi Embassy in Colombo, the issuance of Haj visas to the pilgrims through their respective travel operators was smooth.
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 425,000 rupees for each pilgrim that should include airfare, accommodation and internal travel,” Fowzie said, warning that any travel operator who surcharges pilgrims will be severely dealt with.
Around seven percent of the country’s 20.2 million inhabitants are Muslim.
Fowzie thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for investing millions of dollars to serve the pilgrims, who come to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah from all parts of the globe. "We appreciate all the expansion work that are 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 at the holy sites.