Mohammed bin Ahmed Tayeb, director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Makkah, outgoing Pakistani Consul General Aftab A. Khokher, second left, and new Consul General Shehryar Akbar Khan, right, at a farewell party in Jeddah on Monday.

The who’s who of the Saudi and foreign diplomatic community in Jeddah attended a farewell party hosted by outgoing Pakistani Consul General Aftab A. Khokher on Monday.

The most prominent among them were Mohammed bin Ahmed Tayeb, director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Makkah; Mohammed Naeem Khan, assistant secretary-general at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation; and Shehryar Akbar Khan, the new Pakistani consul general.

Other dignitaries included Mohammed Shokat, the British consul general; Urdu News Editor in Chief Tarek Mishkhas; Saudi columnist Tareq Almaeena; Saudi Steel Chief Executive Officer Mohamed H. Zakaria, Zultec Chief Executive Officer Zulqiurnain Ali Khan and Dr. Mansour Memon of Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital.

The Pakistani expatriate community’s leading lights and heads and office-bearers of almost all social, welfare and literary organizations, including Aalami Urdu Markaz, Engineers Welfare Forum, Pakistan Executive Group, Pakistani Journalists Forum, Pakistan Repatriation Council, Pakistani Doctors Forum, Kashmir Committee, Pakistan Welfare Society and the Pakistan Christian Welfare Society, attended the event.

Tayeb showered fulsome praise on Khokher and said it was an honor working with him. “Brother Khokher did a lot to promote and strengthen ties between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,” he said.

“It is with a mixed feeling of joy and sadness that we are saying farewell to Khokher,” he said. “Sadness because we will miss him and joy because he is going to be his country’s ambassador to Lebanon.”

Tayeb said Khokher was always concerned about the welfare of his community. “He went the extra mile to look into the issues of Pakistani expatriates, not just in Jeddah but also other cities in the Western Region,” he said.

Khokher introduced the new consul general and appealed to the community to cooperate fully with him.

“I had a memorable stay in Jeddah and will miss many things,” he said. “But the one thing that I will miss the most is the frequent visits to the holy mosques in Makkah and Madinah.”

He urged his fellow compatriots to keep him in their prayers during their visits to the Two Holy Mosques.

Khokher recalled the good work done for the community during the general amnesty of 2013. “I had full support and guidance from Naeem Khan, who was then our ambassador in Riyadh,” he said.

A large number of women, including his wife Afshan Khokher, Sonia Shehryar, wife of the new consul general, and Dr. Erum Qalbani from Riyadh attended the party.

“There is no doubt Khokher was a very popular and able diplomat,” said Amir Khurshid Rizvi, a member of the Pakistan Executive Group.

“He was a hands-on man, easily accessible and an extremely down-to-earth person, traits that are not too common among diplomats and bureaucrats,” said Rizvi.

Khokher said that during his tenure the capacity of the consulate was doubled. “If there was one fee counter for passports, I introduced two; if there was one fingerprinting counter, I established three. The functioning of the consulate was completely streamlined,” he said.

Khokher will take up his new assignment in Beirut on Oct. 28.

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