JEDDAH — The Indian Cultural Society Jeddah (ICSJ) and Bazm-e-Osmania Jeddah President Arif Quraishi welcomed Sahil Sharma, consul consular in the Indian Consulate, and other guests at his residence recently in continuance of the group’s tradition.

In his speech, Quraishi said that it has been a tradition of ICSJ and the Bazm, for many years now, to accord welcome to the new Indian diplomats taking up assignments in this city.

"After two months insha'Allah, ICSJ and Bazm-e-Osmania will complete 44 years of community service in Jeddah. Both ICSJ and Bazm are the first and oldest NRI associations in Jeddah. Our main objective is to provide community service to members of our community irrespective of their religion or creed.

“Our services to the community are manifold, but to point out a few, we organize our country's national days — Independence and Republic Day celebrations, and we collect old textbooks and distribute to International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) students and parents free of cost,” Quraishi added.

Chief guest Sahil Sharma said, "I am very happy to attend this beautiful gathering in the presence of educated and top personalities. Even before I came to the city, I had heard about Quraishi's record in community services as all his efforts are in our consulate's record.”

Sharma appreciated Quraishi's continuous services and urged him to restart the old textbooks campaign, which he said is a noble cause through which many parents and students have benefitted.

He also said the consulate's door is always open for all Indians, who seek redressals or solutions to their problems. "We are ready to help our community in any way within the framework of the Saudi law."

He urged all Indians to follow the rules and regulations of the Kingdom and to do their duty with honesty and responsibility.

The event was attended by Zia Abdullah Nadwi, director of Al Falah International School - DPS Jeddah; L. Ramnarayan Iyer, executive editor of Saudi Gazette and patron of ICSJ; Danish Abdul Ghafoor, chairman higher education Indian schools; Ghazanfar Alam, chairman of IISJ managing committee; Dr. Khurshid, former chairman of IISJ managing committee; Asif Daudi, former chairman of IISJ managing committee, Azhar Zai, former managing committee member; Jimmy Fareed Al-Waheedi, Iqbal Sulkar, Azharuddin Sulkar, Altaf Hussain, Mohammed Ibrahim Sajid, Abdulrahman Baig and Imtiyaz Mirza.

Azhar Zai said: "I have been with Quraishi all these years and have attended all his functions for the last 30 to 35 years from the time I first came to Jeddah."

Dr. Khurshid said: "I have seen Quraishi's activities for more than 30 years and I can say that Quraishi is a hard working and dynamic person."

Danish Abdul Ghafoor, tongue-in-cheek, said: "I have a strong complaint against Quraishi because he was distributing old textbooks for more than 25 years but this campaign was disrupted last year and due to his ill health. Many parents and students are in need of such a campaign.

“I know one another group that were doing the same campaign but they disappeared in the middle of the campaign itself. I urge Quraishi to take up the noble initiative once again so that the parents and students can benefit from the old textbooks distribution campaign."

Ramnarayan agreed with Danish, saying, "I have closely watched Quraishi's services and he has been organizing our national day celebrations with great pride and in the most professional manner. But it is the textbook campaign that has touched many a people., and he believed that all of us (Indians) should work with Quraishi to retart this noble venture.”

Zia Nadwi said: "Quraishi has always invited me to his programs with a lot of love and respect, which is why I can never say no to him."

The speeches were followed by a sumptuous dinner and a cultural program. The singers were: Jimmy Fareed Al-Waheedi, Asif Daudi, and Imtiyaz Mirza. Azhar Zai proposed the vote of thanks. — SG