Saudi Government offers Sri Lankan Muslim Tri Forces personnel free Hajj opportunities for the first time in history

COLOMBO (News 1st); For the first time in history, the Saudi Government has offered Muslim members of the Sri Lankan Tri Forces sponsored opportunity to perform the annual Hajj Pilgrimage this year (2024).

This comes after a request made by the State Minister of Defence 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, yesterday to thank him for providing the once in a lifetime opportunity to Muslim members of the Tri Forces to perform the Hajj 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 Hajj Committee member Milfer Gaffoor and beneficiary Tri Forces members accompanied the State Minister on his visit to the Saudi Embassy.