JEDDAH, 31 August 2007 — Protocol and proactive are two distinct modes of action that are mutually exclusive. But the new Pakistan Consul General Zaigham Uddin Azam is proving to be very adept in both the modes as he shifts between them with seamless ease.
While emphasizing on protocol, Azam, who was recently appointed as the consul general of Pakistan, is just as eager to be proactive for his community and country. That’s why he has been in the forefront of setting up a platform where the consulate and the community can go one-on-one.
“Community is paramount,” he said in an interview with Arab News. “Yes it is very true, in the past we had lots of community forums. There was not a united forum that could bring every community member on one platform. So that’s why I thought, and I discussed it with my colleagues, there’s a need for a collective platform where we can discuss community problems, how to promote Pakistan and discuss ways to address issues that affect day-to-day life of our community. The response is very healthy and has been successful for two reasons. Firstly, everybody gets together in one place socially and businesslike as well. Then, in these meetings, people get a chance to meet each other. Of course, they have different ideas, which have not been picked up and kicked up for materialization.”
Azam, who holds these open houses every month, said these forums serve a dual purpose. “The consulate gets to know about the community issues or is able to rally the community over certain issues back home (like the recent floods in Pakistan) while also allowing for the community to voice their concerns and open their hearts to us,” he said. “I request them to ask any questions regarding consulate, regarding their facilitation from the consulate regarding inter-harmony, regarding groups harmony, forums’ harmony etc. and I think this is a successful experience and we have to nurture it. We tend to advertise the date the forum is being held, in the hope that people from every walk of life will participate. Of course such meetings will be expanded over to other places so that those people who cannot join us in these meetings here can meet our teams in their areas. We intend to have our eight teams visiting places like Madinah, Taif, Yanbu ... Najran, Jizan as well. I intend taking all my officers along to these places so that if there are problems then they can address them then and there.”
Azam has used this forum to generate money for flood victims in Pakistan. It was in the forum that the community decided on a cultural program with entry tickets that would make up the proceeds along with donations for the flood victims.
“That’s why Abrarul Haq has agreed to come to the program on Sept. 10,” Azam said.
A consummate diplomat and a personality to match his 6’4” height, Azam’s main aim is to complete the consulate complex within his term, while also fostering cultural harmony between neighboring countries.
On the consulate’s move to Makkah Road, Azam said any consulate should be at a place where it can be easily accessible, and the present one is. But over a passage of time everything grows, he said.
“These two buildings are very small and if you have seen our consular section, where we have a turnover of over a 1,000 people every day, even hundred people cannot stand there. You see the limitations,” he added. “The conception of the new consulate building was already there in the early 1990s. Now we are in the process of implementing it. We had identified a huge plot at Al-Rehab and is centrally located with many roads leading to it. The new premise will not have a parking problem. Once the host government allowed the purchase of land by foreign missions, our ambassador said we are going to do it. First of all we would like to have the consul block coming up, for that’s where thousands visit us, and then office block and then community block, which is going to have a huge hall where thousands can be housed to carry out their recreational facilities, programs, carry out marriages, anything they want we will have pools, all games... it is going to be a club and we will have membership, they will run it and they will enjoy their lives. It is a huge project and my aim, or my wish, now I’m saying, is to complete it during my tenure.”
On the improving relations between Pakistan and India, Azam was hopeful that the dialogue would continue. “The only way forward is contact and communication, and wars are not the answers to our issues. It (war) is history now,” Azam said. “The thinking of the leadership and the people of both the countries now is that dialogue and communications should be there. Of course, everybody will see to his interests. But at the same time communication, interaction and dialogue is the way to bring peace, harmony and prosperity to the region.”
When asked whether he would take interest in joint mushairas and cultural programs with Indian and Bangladeshis, he was receptive, saying “yes, why not.”
But there was a codicil. He said his aim was to get his community collected, and he would like to concentrate on them first. Once his community is on one platform then we’ll extend and reach out to other communities like Sri Lankans, Indians, Koreans, Malaysians, Japanese, and et cetera.
In this regard, he emphasized the fact that an Asian Consul General’s forum already exists. It is a very vibrant forum. Of course we are different people and this provides a form of representation in Kingdom like India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Japan and Korean.
“We have an agenda there. We have to have inter-harmony group relationship that could be substantiated by the cultural aspects, how we can introduce our culture, of course India and Pakistan do not need to introduce their culture, for we know what it is, but this grouping can help us in this aspect with Japan, Korea, Indonesia... and far-flung areas where we have no access otherwise. That is more important,” he said.
Azam’s concern for the issues in schools run by the missions stems from the fact that it comes under the umbrella of community.
“Pakistan schools have had an upside down ride, and have not had a smooth functioning in the Western Region. Let me tell you that with the assumption of office by Ambassador Shahid Karimullah he has taken the issue very seriously,” he said. “We cannot reform a thing overnight, but he has taken a lot of interest and gone into lot of details, worked out a charter for the schools which is under submission to the Ministry of Education here. Once this is improved, hopefully things would improve themselves. Once there is a vision the mission becomes very clear. Actually school as you see is the most important part of one’s life, whether it is junior, middle or high school, and all levels have to be up to the mark and that’s where lies any nation or country’s advancement.”
With the Haj season on us, the eternal problem of pricy accommodation arises. When asked what the mission will be doing on this issue, Azam said: “Our Haj directorate has a system in place to cater to Hajis coming from Pakistan. On accommodation, prices have gone up so much you have about 150,000 rupees charged to one Haji. Let’s say if we have different categories, starting from 70,000 rupees to the upper limit, and if we start hiring buildings near the Grand Mosque, it would become very expensive. Unfortunately you can’t help it and we do what is more convenient for all.”
A product of the Abottobad Public School, Azam secured an army commission in 1979 and joined the Foreign Service in 1986. His earlier stints in Myanmar (1997) and Berlin (2000) gave his passion for golf a new fillip.
The suave diplomat, for whom sports is par for course, rounded off by saying, “Sports have been the best moments in my life, and I have played all types of sports, less rugby, which I could not play as it was virtually nonexistent in Pakistan. And the thing I would like to do here is to play golf.”