JEDDAH, 19 September 2004 — A proposal to establish a Saudi-India friendship society is gaining currency. “The idea is to bring together Saudi citizens and Indian expats at cultural, economic and people-to-people levels,” Indian Consul General Ausaf Sayeed said.
It will be patterned on the Indo-Arab Society that exists in India and has an excellent track record to bring India and the Arab world closer at the people-to-people level. “I’ll hold meetings with the parties concerned very soon to give a concrete shape to the proposal,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a weekend reception hosted in his honor by the Indian community.
“There is also a move to launch a forum for top Indian business executives,” said Sayeed. “In fact, some sections of the community have been voicing the need for an exclusive association for executives and have urged the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate to initiate such a forum.
“Such an organization will be helpful in serving their interests and sharing their expertise in different professions through regular interaction,” he said.
The diplomat said the number of Haj pilgrims coming from India was likely to increase by 10,000 this time.
“The increase will be hopefully approved by Parliament,” he said, adding that 117,000 Indian pilgrims, including 72,000 who came through the Haj Committee of India (HCI), performed the last annual pilgrimage.
India’s quota of 147,000 Haj pilgrims is not being fully utilized, but efforts will be made to gradually increase their numbers in future, he said.
While accommodation for most of the pilgrims in Makkah has already been finalized by the HCI, the selection process for accommodating them in Madinah is continuing. Like in previous years, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Air-India will share the responsibility of transporting pilgrims from India.
The arrangements follow the recent signing of an accord between Haj Minister Iyad Madani and India’s Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed.
“Indians should be proud of their country’s secular fabric in a Hindu-majority India that had been further strengthened by the fact that we now have the president who is a Muslim, the prime minister who is a Sikh and leader of the ruling Congress party and Parliament who is a Christian,” he said.
Siadat Ali Khan conducted the proceedings, which began with introductory remarks from Majeedul Hassan, Jose Mathews, C.J. Shahjahan, M.K. Hassanuddin and Ahmad Siddiqui. Nizam Ali Khan, accompanied by Aslam Peer Baksh, presented “ghazals.”
