The Saudi Arabian Government has offered Muslim members of the Sri Lankan Tri-Forces sponsored opportunity to perform the annual Hajj Pilgrimage this year (2024), for the first time in history, according to the Defence Ministry. 

This comes after a request made by the State Minister of Defence Premitha Bandara Tennakoon from the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 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, the statement said.

For the first time, five special sponsored quotas were made available for the Muslim Tri-Forces personnel this year, it said.

State Minister Tennakoon met Ambassador Alkahtani at his office in Colombo, on Friday (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 Hajj pilgrimage this year, the ministry said.

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.

Marking another first, he said that the 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.