COLOMBO, 6 January 2006 — The last group of Sri Lankan Haj pilgrims left yesterday by a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight with a load of 282 pilgrims from the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo.

“This brings the total to 7,500 which is the largest number of pilgrims from Colombo,” Abdul Hameed Mohammed Fowzie , minister of rail, transport, petroleum and Haj affairs told Arab News. Fowzie who leads the Sri Lankan Haj delegation said his 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.

The minister said his government had allowed the Muslims who were interested in participating in this year’s Haj. “We have no restriction on the number of pilgrims and they were allowed adequate foreign exchange for their travel abroad,” he added. Even the immigration department opened a special cell to assist the Hajis to obtain their passports to meet the deadline set by the Saudi Embassy in Colombo for the issuance of visas.

Mohammed Mahmud Al Ali, Saudi Ambassador in Colombo, told Arab News that the mission issued 7,500 Haj visas within a short period. “We had to deploy a special team which came from Riyadh to process the visas,” he added. 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 and the others were ferried by airlines such as Kuwait Airways, Royal Jordanian Airways and Air Arabia.

The minister is to 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 has built a row of shops to serve his own purpose. In 1963, Ceylon House was bought by a group of Sri Lankans for SR115,000 and made into 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.

“Last year, the caretaker allowed the consulate to house the Lanka Medical Clinic and other Haj officials who came from Colombo in the Ceylon House, Masihudeen Inamullah, consul general in Jeddah said . But this year, he said even this facility was totally denied.