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Hassan Cheruppa
JEDDAH – India’s Ambassador Ahmed Javed and Consul General Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh have reassured the 3-million strong community that the doors of the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah will always remain open to extend prompt and flawless services to them.
Addressing a grand reception hosted by Indian Community Jeddah (ICJ) at Hotel Trident, Javed said: “Feel free to contact the consul general or the ambassador and your queries will definitely be answered.”
Sheikh added: “I keep my mobile phone on 24 hours to take calls coming at any time from members of the community.”
The audience welcomed the words with thunderous applause.
For the first time, various Indian community groups in Jeddah came under one roof to host a joint event in an air of excitement, enthusiasm and jubilation.
Javed, chief guest at the function, said he sees the opportunity to serve the Indian community in Saudi Arabia as a great honor and privilege.
“Policing in India is a heavy challenge, especially in the current scenario when terrorism poses a big threat,” Javed said, referring to his stint as the commissioner of police in Mumbai before donning the mantle of a diplomat.
He said it was extremely gratifying to have an opportunity to serve the largest Indian passport-holding community abroad and remain at the helm of organizing the annual Haj, the biggest diplomatic operation outside the country, after successfully accomplishing the task of the top police officer in India's most populous city.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Saudi Arabia in the first week of April, he met Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and other top Saudi leaders, Javed said. “All of them had very good words about the Indian community for the kind of contributions we are rendering to this great country in social and economic spheres. We deserve a huge round of applause for becoming the most law abiding people in Saudi Arabia.”
He said Indians left a big impact on the hearts and minds of Saudis, thanks to "our dedicated work and tremendous contributions to the betterment of this country, with an impressive stamp on most of its achievements.”
Javed said the Indian diplomatic mission is trying its best to cater to the legitimate needs of the community members. “Both the embassy and consulate will always be striving to provide the most transparent, most effective and most prompt services to the community. In the case of those who are in dire need of any kind of help or service, we will be delivering it,” he said.
The ambassador assured that there would be no slackness in addressing diverse issues facing Indians, who represent one third of the expatriate community in the Kingdom. “I assure you that we will try to respond to your queries in minutes on Twitter and other means of social media, and within a couple of days through e-mail and other channels of communication. There will be a reply for each and every mail sent to the ambassador, especially those related to getting information,” Javed said.
“If any community member raised a legitimate issue to the embassy, and if it is not addressed promptly, you can remind us about the issue through the email ID available on our website. Feel free to contact either the CG or ambassador and your query will definitely be answered,” Javed said.
He said since assuming office on Feb. 17, he had been working to further open up the Indian missions to the community.
He reminded the community members that security is a vital issue. “All security guidelines, directives and advisories issued by the Saudi authorities shall be fully adhered to. Our relatives who come for Haj, Umrah and visit shall also be fully made known about these regulations,” he added.
Echoing the same view, Consul General Sheikh, the guest of honor, said the community members must be fully aware of the security scenario around them, with fully adhering to the regulations and not involving in any violations. “Saudis consider Indians as the most law abiding and most hard working people and, hence, we have to live up to their expectations.” Sheikh, who served as deputy consul general and Haj consul before leaving for New York to take up the position of first secretary at India’s Permanent Mission at the United Nations, hoped that his experience at the consulate would be helpful and useful in rendering much better services to the community.
Speaking about the open house policy, he said any member of the community can come anytime to the consulate and meet him and other officials to cater to their needs. “Being civil servants, we are keen to have close interaction with the community with the latest tools of social media and smart phones,” he said.
Sheikh lauded community organizations for making the consulate’s functioning easier and successful. “The big profiles of these organizations are a telling example of their commendable services to the community. The support of more than 2,000 volunteers was instrumental in making our Haj operation a resounding success,” he said, and recalled their tremendous support in regulating the status of Indians during the Nitaqat amnesty period.
The function began with the recitation of the Qur’an by Fahad Ayoub Zinjani. Senior community members Zia Nadvi and V.K.A. Rauf presented bouquets to the ambassador and consul general respectively while mementos of appreciation were presented by Riaz Mulla to the ambassador and by Aziz Kidwai to the consul general.
A total of 14 organizations joined hands under ICJ in conducting the event, in a well-organized and meticulous way, thanks to excellent planning by Deputy Consul General and Haj Consul Shahid Alam. The stupendous anchoring by Asim Zeeshan, master of the ceremony, gave added flavor and splendor to the event.
On behalf of ICJ, Mohideen Siraj welcomed the gathering. Mohammed Hyder introduced Ambassador Javed and Consul General Sheikh by reading out their brief profile, followed by a melodious welcome song by Asha Shiju.
Imran Kausar proposed the vote of thanks. He thanked each and every organization for their efforts in coming together to make the event a big success. He also thanked Zakaria Biladi and Qamar Sada for their best coordination.
Bahjat Najmi, president of Moulana Hifzur Rehman Seoharvi Academy, presented Islamic books “How to Live Peacefully” and “200 Golden Hadiths” respectively to the ambassador and consul general.
Since the program was organized with the joint efforts of social and cultural organizations in Jeddah, each organization was given an opportunity to present a brief portfolio of their activities.
Ganesh (Tamil Sangam), Mohammed Shameem Kausar (Khak -e-Taiba), Siadat Ali Khan (Telangana United Forum), Sherif Kunju (Jeddah Keralites Forum), Nasir Khurshid (KBN Alumni), Jamal Qadri (Urdu Academy), Suhail Mehdi (IISJ Alumni Association), Mohammed Saeeduddin (Indian Engineers Forum), Yousuf Ali (Telugu Association of Jeddah), Nooruddin Khan (Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association), Khaliq Sheikh (Maharashtra Mitra Mandal), Al Aman Ahmad (Indian Social Forum), Pandian (Senthamil Nalamandram), and Shuaib Koteshwar (Bhatkal Community of Jeddah) introduced their respective organizations.
