London, Nov 12, IRNA ,Foreign Secretary David Miliband Wednesday launched the latest British delegation to support Muslim pilgrims performing this year’s Hajj rituals.
The Hajj Delegation, the ninth to be launched since Britain became the first Christian country to offer special consular and medical arrangements for pilgrims in 2000, was an example of ‘shared purpose and partnership between both the government and British Muslims’, Miliband said.
Those at the launch included Labor peer Lord Patel, who will be leading the delegation for the ninth successive year. He is being accompanied by a chief medical officer, seven other volunteer doctors and Foreign Office consular officials.
In an interview with IRNA last month, Patel revealed that the number of pilgrims from Britain is one of the highest from a non- Muslim country, exceeding even America, whose Muslim population is more than five times the two million living in the UK.
The 68-year old Indian-born peer also said that he helped to intervene to prevent Saudi authorities from introducing quotas from Europe and America, like those imposed on many Islamic countries.
Last year more than 25,000 British pilgrims attended the Hajj and over 6,000 British pilgrims were supported by the delegation be way of offering general advice and treatment at makeshift clinics.
The delegation is due to leave London for Jeddah around November 25 and is scheduled to return on 17 December. It was estimated that support will be offered for a minimum of 5,000 of the pilgrims performing Hajj.
During Hajj ceremonies in 2006, three British pilgrims were among those who lost their lives during a stampede that caused a huge amount of grief and distress among the UK’s 1.8 million Muslim community.