By Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr. Ausaf Sayeed voiced his gratification over the strong pitch and vibrant steam that have gathered in the bilateral ties after taking it to new heights of strategic partnership during his tenure.

“All round growth and progress have been achieved in the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as in people to people contact. There are bigger and diversified opportunities that lay open in wide ranging fields between the two great nations and my new task would be to further expand and bolster the synergy of this historical relationship and partnership,” he said while speaking to Saudi Gazette.

Dr. Sayeed will leave the Kingdom on Monday after serving the Kingdom for three years in order to take up the new assignment of Secretary for Consular, Passport, Visa, and Overseas Indian Affairs at the headquarters of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi.

At MEA, he will be in charge of the affairs of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries and will be tasked to liaison with the Arab League, Gulf Cooperation Council and the Maghreb Union.

Dr. Sayeed said the new task to handle the affairs of the Gulf and Arab countries would be instrumental to have more meaningful engagements at a time when the trajectory of relationship between the two sides is going upward at a much faster pace.

He commended Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for their monumental role in further elevating the profile of centuries-old bonds of ties between the two countries.

“We have strong words of praise and deep gratitude to the Monarch and Crown Prince for showing their utmost keenness on the well-being of the expatriate community during their difficult time in the pandemic period by providing free treatment and vaccination against coronavirus without any discrimination between Saudis and foreigners,” he said, while noting that India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi had written a letter praising the Saudi leadership in this regard.

Dr. Sayeed hailed the excellent rapport and social integration existing between the Saudi society and the 2.5 million strong Indian community that represents the largest expatriate community in the Kingdom.

“The Indian Diaspora has made an indelible mark with their dedication, hard work and commitment and the Saudi community is reciprocally responding to it abundantly. We will continue working hard to further build up this amazing partnership,” he said while lauding the unity, amity and cooperation among the Indian community members in the Kingdom.

Addressing a farewell party organized by the Consulate General of India in Jeddah recently, Dr. Sayeed shared many of his personalized experiences and highlights of decade-long brilliant diplomatic career in Saudi Arabia in his capacity as consul of Hajj (1995-97), consul general (2004 -2008) and ambassador (2019-2022).

He served as consul general of India in Chicago, ambassador in Yemen, and high commissioner in Seychelles before assuming charge in Riyadh in March 2019.

Dr. Sayeed shared his intimate emotional attachment with Jeddah. “After language training in Cairo, I was posted in Jeddah as consul of Hajj. I started my career as a passport officer that helped me to establish close contact with the public and that had played a great role in achieving success later as a career diplomat for over 30 years.

“I am preoccupied with the thoughts of how could I make a difference with the life of people from the very beginning of my career as a passport officer in Hyderabad where I used to meet daily around 500 people and tried to render various services,” he said.

He noted that the experience in dealing with people helped him while handling Hajj during his stint as consul of Hajj in Jeddah. “It was a terrible experience when the massive fire ripped through the tent city of Mina during the Hajj of April 97 and it was harrowing to see many pilgrims perish and I experienced the missing of wife and two children for many hours when they accompanied me to perform Hajj.”

The ambassador said that he has to carry forward more work in several priority areas between the two countries. The strategic partnership has enabled framing holistic approach in many aspects such as counter-terrorism, security, defense, trade and commerce and healthcare. When the chapter of ambassador is ending, another big chapter of the secretary of government of India is beginning,” he added.

Dr. Ausaf, who has an Arab lineage, has played a phenomenal role in further bolstering and cementing centuries-old Saudi–India relations. He has been instrumental in establishing several Saudi-India organizations such as India Saudi Friendship Society, Saudi Indian Business Network, and Indo-Saudi Medical Forum.

During his tenure as consul general, he organized the first-ever Indian festival, and the First Asian Festival in Jeddah, as well as the first Asian Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, in addition to forming the Asian Consuls General Club.

He was also associated with the Saudi-India Civil Society Dialogue. As a scholar and writer, Dr. Sayeed authored a number of books including Historic Indo Arab ties, Indian art and culture; and Trends in Indian culture and heritage.

Bidding adieu to

‘People’s Ambassador’

The Consulate General of India in Jeddah organized a farewell party to Dr. Sayeed and his wife Farha. The event, titled “An evening with Ambassador Dr. Ausaf Sayeed and Farha Sayeed” was held at Hotel Ritz Carlton.

Several prominent members of the Saudi and Indian communities from Jeddah, Makkah, Taif and other parts of the western region attended the event. The speakers shed light on the brilliant track record of Dr. Sayeed, calling him as ‘People’s Ambassador.’

In his speech, Consul General Mohammed Shahid Alam spoke about his emotional attachment with the ambassador, citing the great lessons that he has learned from this seasoned career diplomat. He also spoke in length about the ambassador’s care and support in serving the Indian community as well as the Hajj and Umrah pilgrims in the best possible manner.

Those who spoke on the occasion included Nouf Marwaai, Abdullah Kassabi, Adil Sanai, Ramnarayan Iyer, Siraj Wahab, Mahtab Qadar, Hassan Cheruppa, Arif Quraishi, Pradeep Sharma, Mohammed Rafeeq, Mohammed Alungal, Riaz Mulla, Tahseen Wahadat, Ibrahim Bohra, Dr. Mushkath Mohammed Ali, Ayoob Hakim, Nadeem Nadvi, Dr. Jemshith Ahmed, Ravi Krishnan, Saleem Qadri, Dr. Ataat Khan and Khaled Kamal Khan.

Dr. Sayeed and Farha Sayeed joined with Shahid Alam and his wife Dr. Shakeela Khatun in cutting the cake to mark the occasion. Asim Zeeshan was the master of ceremony. A documentary and a live quiz competition based on the life of Dr. Sayeed was held. An exhibition of paintings, drawn by the Saudi, Indian and Egyptian artists, was held on the sidelines of the event.