Sri Lankan Muslims permitted to fly for Haj; must transfer USD 1,500 from overseas
Colombo, Jun 9: The Sri Lankan government has decided to permit its Muslim citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia to peform Haj on condition that they pay USD 1,500 in foreign currency from abroad without affecting the nation's crisis-hit economy, according to media reports on Thursday.
The government has agreed to allow Haj pilgrims despite the current economic crisis, following a meeting of Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickremanayake on Tuesday with the Haj Travel Operator's Associations.
It was decided in the meeting to fulfil the request of pilgrims by asking them to pay for their Haj package in foreign currencies, Daily News Lanka newspaper reported.
Sri Lanka's travel operators had earlier decided to cancel the Haj pilgrimage this year due to the worst economic crisis facing the debt-ridden country. They said cancelling the Haj this year could save the island nation precious foreign exchange.
Saudi Arabia had approved a quota of 1,585 Haj pilgrims from Sri Lanka for the year 2022, out of the one million foreign and domestic Muslims allowed to travel to the holy city of Makkah in the pilgrimage season.
Stressing that Muslims in Sri Lanka performed their annual pilgrimage every year without any interruptions except for the last two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Wickremanayake said he had requested the central bank of Sri Lanka to work out the modalities of the pilgrimage under new guidelines.
Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs on its official website asked pilgrims to transfer USD 1,500 per person from abroad to a designated foreign currency account in Sri Lanka to perform Haj.
According to the statement, Haj Tour Operators' Associations have been advised to make arrangements as per the guidelines of the central bank and to levy a reasonable amount as the charges for Haj pilgrimage this year.
Sri Lankans interested in performing the Haj this year were requested to confirm their participation before Friday (June 10), the country's news website News1st cited the statement as saying.
The report also said Sri Lanka had conveyed the decision to the government of Saudi Arabia through appropriate diplomatic channels.
Sri Lanka has been facing the worst economic crisis since its Independence from Britain in 1948, partly due to lack of foreign currency, which has meant that the country cannot afford to pay for imports of staple foods and fuel, leading to acute shortages and very high prices.
"The whole Haj operation of Sri Lankan pilgrims will cost around USD 10 million, which is a big amount compared with the current economic situation of the country," Ahkam Uwais, chairman of the National Hajj Committee under Sri Lanka's Department of Muslim Religious Affairs, had earlier said while conveying the decision of forgoing the pilgrimage this year.
Muslims make up almost 10 per cent of Sri Lanka's 22 million -- predominantly Buddhist -- population. The Haj, one of Islam's five main pillars of faith, is organised by umbrella groups of government-licensed operators - the only tour organisers available to prospective pilgrims.
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Iran reimposes restrictions on Strait of Hormuz, accusing US of violating deal to reopen it
Cairo (AP): Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, reimposing restrictions on the critical waterway on Saturday after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iran-linked shipping.
Iran's joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state ... under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The announcement came the morning after US President Donald Trump said that even after Iran announced the strait's reopening on Friday, the American blockade “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the US, including on its nuclear programme.
The conflict over the chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy after oil prices began to fall again on Friday on hopes the US and Iran were drawing closer to an agreement. Roughly one-fifth of the world's oil passes through the strait, and further limits would squeeze already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again.
Control over the strait has proven to be one of Iran's main points of leverage and prompted the United States to deploy forces and initiate a blockade on Iranian ports as part of an effort to force Iran to accept a Pakistan-brokered ceasefire to end almost seven weeks of war that has raged between Israel, the US and Iran.
Iran said it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels after a 10-day truce was announced between Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. But after Trump said the blockade would continue, top Iranian officials said his announcement violated last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the US and warned the strait would not stay open if the US blockade remained in effect.
A data firm, Kpler, said movement through the strait remained confined to corridors requiring Iran's approval.
US forces have sent 21 ships back to Iran since the blockade began on Monday, US Central Command said on X.
Truce in Lebanon could help US-Iran peace efforts
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The ceasefire in Lebanon could clear one major obstacle to an agreement. But it was unclear to what extent Hezbollah would abide by a deal it did not play a role in negotiating, and which will leave Israeli troops occupying a stretch of southern Lebanon.
Trump said in another post that Israel is “prohibited” by the US from further strikes on Lebanon and that “enough is enough” in the Israel-Hezbollah war.
The State Department said the prohibition applies only to offensive attacks and not to actions taken in self-defence.
Shortly before Trump's post, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to the ceasefire in Lebanon “at the request of my friend President Trump,” but that the campaign against Hezbollah is not complete.
He claimed Israel had destroyed about 90 per cent of Hezbollah's missile and rocket stockpiles and added that Israeli forces “have not finished yet” with the dismantling of the group.
In Beirut, displaced families began moving toward southern Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs despite warnings by officials not to return to their homes until it became clear whether the ceasefire would hold.
The Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon reported sporadic artillery shelling in some parts of southern Lebanon in the hours after the ceasefire took effect.
An end to Israel's war with Hezbollah was a key demand of Iranian negotiators, who previously accused Israel of breaking last week's ceasefire with strikes on Lebanon. Israel had said that the deal did not cover Lebanon.
The fighting has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, more than 2,290 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen US service members have also been killed.
