Seventy-one-year-old Mani Shankar Aiyar is a former diplomat who represented India in many countries, including Pakistan. He is a staunch secularist and a member of the ruling Congress party.

Aiyar was a part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first Cabinet. He served as the federal minister for petroleum and natural gas from May 2004 through January 2006 and as the minister of youth affairs and sports till 2009.

He is currently a member of India’s upper house of Parliament called the Rajya Sabha. Aiyar is widely believed to have written the policy-making speeches of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

“Aiyar is not just an ordinary politician,” said prominent AMU alumnus and event organizer Parvez Qader Askari. “He is an author, academic, an excellent orator and a great protagonist of peace between India and Pakistan; it is an honor for the Indian community that he has agreed to address us all here in Dammam.”

The event will take place at Dhahran International Hotel (Old Airport Road) at 7:30 p.m. For invitations, please call Parvez Askari on 0504901001 or Shoaib A. Quraishi on 0556038837.