JEDDAH — Three organizations, working under the patronage of the Indian Consulate General, joined hands for the first time in organizing a farewell party to the outgoing Consul General B.S. Mubarak. Highlighting this synergy, Mubarak, in his farewell speech, underscored that his association with the Jeddah community is a synergy, and that community is an extended arm of the consulate or the embassy in carrying out its missions. "The one-million strong Indian community in the Kingdom's western region has always remained as a big source of strength to the consulate. If we work together in this synergy, we can really serve the underprivileged members of the community," the popular consul general said. India Forum, Saudi Indian Business Network (SIBN), and Indian Pilgrim Welfare Forum (IPWF) jointly organized the farewell function. Mubarak has spent six eventful and brilliant years of his diplomatic career in Jeddah, first as Haj consul and then as consul general after a gap of two years. He will leave Jeddah early next month for India to join the Ministry of External Affairs at its headquarters in New Delhi. Going down memory lane to the beginning of his career in Jeddah as Haj consul, Mubarak started his speech, saying: "Jeddah is very close to my heart, primarily because of Haj, and this great city is the only place where a diplomat gets more opportunities to serve Guests of God. This was the main motivation for me to come over here, fulfilling a long cherished dream to come to this holy land to serve the pilgrims and thus benefitting in this life and hereafter, he said while noting, "before coming to Jeddah, I had no idea of what facilities were there for the pilgrims." He also shared the unique blessing that he had to spend two years in Palestine. "My two-year diplomatic stint in Ramallah was the greatest gift from God where I could interact with the Palestinian community and tried to understand their problems. I prayed at Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem several times." Mubarak underscored that he gave more thrust on making the functioning of community welfare wing more effective so as to benefit large number of ordinary Indian expatriates working in the vast western region stretching from Tabuk to Najran. "We brought in managerial experts to streamline the entire community welfare operation. Several community members helped us to streamline the work." He cited examples for the selfless services of community welfare volunteers, especially those from the Coordination Committees of Welfare Associations (CCWA) outside Jeddah, during the crisis in Jazan and Najran. "We evacuated four busloads of Indians from Yemen by bringing them from the Yemeni border to Jeddah and for this, CCWA members from Jazan and Najran joined hands with the consulate team," he said while applauding the wonderful job of the volunteers in serving the community. "Many of them are working for low salary and even then they find time to serve the community and hence I salute all the CCWA members." Mubarak also highlighted the qualitative leap in the services and facilities being rendered to Haj pilgrims, especially the high tech facilities, including effective use of social media and introduction of mobile apps, especially the prestigious pilgrims' Accommodation Locator. Referring to the tremendous work in crisis management, he specially drew attention to the critical period after the twin tragedies of Haram crane crash and Mina stampede during the Haj of 2015. "During the Haram crane and Mina stampede tragedies, we acted as a major source of information about what was happening by effectively using social media and passing prompt and accurate information from the reliable sources. We were very keen not to sensationalize the unfortunate incidents." He also unveiled plans and efforts being made to move the consulate premises to a much larger premise. "Now we face space constraint as the consulate facility, with an area of 3,500 square meters, is quite insufficient to meet our requirements. And hence we tried very hard to convince our government that we need an area of at least 10,000 square meters for which we got the approval and is now going ahead vigorously to realize it," he said while disclosing plans to open a 24/7 service center shortly. Mubarak congratulated India Forum, SIBN, and IPWF for their commendable service and contributions to the community and the Haj pilgrims. He specially thanked for organizing the farewell party in a highly impressive and amazing manner. On their part, Ajaz Ahmed Khan, president of India Forum, Syed Majeedul Hasan, general secretary of SIBN, and Abdul Kader Khan, president of IPWF, delivered speeches in which they thanked Mubarak for his outstanding contributions to the community. They also lauded Latifah Mubarak, the wife of Mubarak, for her services to the community. Ahmed Khan highlighted Mubarak's caliber in crisis management and his unrelenting passion to help the needy people after going out of the comfort zone while Hasan praised his dynamism in guiding SIBN to promote and develop Saudi and Indian trade and business ties, as well as his compassionate and selfless caring character. While describing Mubarak as the "most humble and loving CG that we have ever had," Abdul Kader Khan specially highlighted his coolness and confidence in crisis management. He cited an example of how he was successful in accomplishing the tough task of getting quality accommodation for Indian Hajis following demolition of thousands buildings in Makkah for the Haram expansion. In his speech, Deputy Consul General and Haj Consul Shahid Alam also lauded the extraordinary leadership qualities of Mubarak, especially in handling the Indian mission's Haj operation. Bahjat Najmi of IPWF also spoke. A video presentation with recollections and reflections of his colleagues including Saeed Ahmad Baba, former consul general, Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh, incoming consul general, community leaders, as well as his childhood friends back in India, and a gazal recitation by Nizam Ali Khan was a major highlight of the function. Earlier, Ayoob Hakeem, general secretary of India Forum, welcomed the gathering while Zakariya Biladi, chief coordinator of the event, proposed the vote of thanks. Asim Zeeshan and Mohammed Hyder were the anchors. Officials of India Forum, SIBN and IPWF presented gifts in token of appreciation to Mubarak. Bobby Mannat, Amjad Shareef, Vijay Soni, Ghazanfar Ali Zaki, Aziz Kidwai, and Waseem Mukadam were among those who coordinated the event.
