Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH —  The centuries-old historic relations and strong bonds between Saudi Arabia and India were unfurled with grandeur and gusto at a colorful ceremony marking India’s 66th Republic Day celebrations in Jeddah on Sunday evening.

 

Ambassador Muhammad Ahmed Tayyib, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s branch in Makkah region, was the chief guest at the reception hosted by Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak and his wife Latifah Mubarak at the Park Hyatt Hotel.

 

Ambassador Jamal Bakur Bilkhayoor, director protocol at the ministry, Ambassador Emaad Shaat, dean of Diplomatic Corps, and several other prominent figures, including consuls general, diplomats, Indian consulate staff, community leaders, senior executives and business leaders attended the reception, which was earlier scheduled to be held on Jan. 26 but had been postponed for nearly two weeks in paying tribute to the late King Abdullah.

 

Tayyib and Mubarak jointly cut the cake to mark the festive occasion. Tayyib started his speech with commemorating the remarkable role of King Abdullah in further strengthening India-Saudi historic relations and transforming bilateral ties into greater heights of strategic partnership.

 

He specially thanked Mubarak for postponing the Republic Day celebrations so as to share the sorrow and grief of the Saudi people over King Abdullah’s death.

 

Tayyib appreciated the outstanding contributions Indians have been making in the Kingdom’s remarkable growth and development. Going down memory lane, he recalled that the India-Saudi relations date back to pre-Islamic period. 

During this period, Arabs had trade relations with the people in the Indian subcontinent. 

 

“Arabs had admired Indians too much and this admiration was manifested even in naming their baby girls after Al Hind, the Arabic word for India. They were also proud to tell a sword was very strong because it was made in India,” he said, adding, “This showed how intense and strong were the relations between the two great nations since centuries. Second Caliph Umar Bin Khattab said in high esteem about Indian mountains with ruby marble and Indian sea with plenty of pearls. In reciprocal overtures, many Arab tribes settled in India and many Indians came and settled down in the Arabian Peninsula, especially in the south as well as in Hijaz.”

 

Tayyib also referred to the Saulathiya Madrassa, the first school with prescribed syllabus in the Arabian Peninsula, established with the funding of Saulatunnisa, an Indian rich woman who came for Haj from Kolkata. 

The school in Makkah played a great role in the educational development of the old Hijaz province, including Makkah and Madinah. (The school in Shubaika near Haram was demolished a few years ago for the ongoing expansion of the Grand Mosque and relocated to Al-Awali district in Makkah).

 

Mubarak started his speech by expressing deep sense of grief on the death of King Abdullah and offered sincere condolences to the government and people of Saudi Arabia. 

 

Highlighting India’s distinct place in the comity of nations and its peaceful coexistence in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society, Mubarak drew attention to the strong bonds that bind the two great nations. 

 

“The people of Indian subcontinent and the Arabian Peninsula have been interacting with each other and there has been constant exchange of ideas, commodities and culture dating back to several millennia. In the recent past, diplomatic engagements between India and Saudi Arabia have reached a very high level,” he said while drawing attention to the landmark visits of King Abdullah to India in 2006 and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to the Kingdom in 2010, and the visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, while he was the crown prince, to New Delhi in February 2014 and the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Brisbane, Australia last November. 

 

The signing of Delhi Declaration provided a vision and road map for bilateral cooperation while the signing of Riyadh Declaration elevated the relationship to an era of strategic partnership covering political, economic, security and defense ties, he said, while noting that Kingdom is India’s fourth largest trading partner with the value of bilateral trade reached $48.75 billion in the year 2013-14 and Indian business leaders are keen to make investments in India, the latest of which was the plans to set up industries in Jazan. 

 

Commending the three-million Indian community, who constitute one-third of expatriates, for their hard-working, law abiding and professional competence, Mubarak said that this enabled them to enormously benefit from the opportunities available in the Kingdom apart from contributing substantially to the massive development being witnessed in the Kingdom. 

 

He thanked the Indian community for sustaining the brand image of India as well as for further bolstering the bonds between the two countries.