Saudi Government offers Sri Lankan Muslim Tri Forces personnel free Haj opportunities for the first time in history
June 07, 2024For the first time in history, the Saudi Government has offered Muslim members of the Sri Lankan Tri Forces sponsored opportunity to perform the annual Haj Pilgrimage this year (2024).
This comes after a request made by the State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon from the Saudi Ambassador H.E. Khalid Hamoud Alkahtani.
In response to the State Minister’s request, the Saudi Ambassador had made necessary arrangements to obtain five special quotas from the Saudi government.
For the first time, five special sponsored quotas were made available for the Muslim Tri Forces personnel this year.
State Minister Tennakoon met Ambassador Alkahtani at his office in Colombo, today (Jun 07) to thank him and especially the Saudi Government for this magnanimity and earnest response in providing once in a lifetime opportunity to Muslim members of the Tri Forces to perform the Haj pilgrimage this year.
The Saudi Ambassador thanked State Minister Tennakoon for making this request and said that he would personally be involved in increasing the number of quotas for defence personnel in the coming years.
Making another first, he said that opportunity will also be made available to Sri Lankan Muslim defence personnel to perform the ‘Umrah’ pilgrimage in the future as well. He also said that his government is committed to assisting all communities in Sri Lanka and that he looks forward to working closely with local officials in this regard.
Sri Lanka Haj Committee member Milfer Gaffoor and beneficiary Tri Forces members accompanied the State Minister on his visit to the Saudi Embassy.
