Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh

Mohammed Noor Rahman Sheikh assumed charge as India’s next consul general in Jeddah on Sunday.

He was given a sendoff three days ago by his colleagues in New York where he was first secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

“I am happy to be back in Jeddah,” he told Arab News. “I am looking forward to serving the Indian community and the Indian pilgrims.”

Sheikh’s predecessor B.S. Mubarak has returned to New Delhi.

Sheikh served previously in Jeddah as deputy consul general and Haj consul before moving to New York. He has returned to a city with which he is familiar and in which he is comfortable.

Just as his predecessor, Sheikh is down-to-earth and enjoys good rapport with the large Indian community in and around Jeddah.

A native of Imphal in Manipur, Sheikh is a product of the famed Indian Foreign Service (2004 batch). Diplomacy is his second love with his first being the National Defense Academy (NDA).

“I look forward to receiving support and cooperation from the community in carrying out my duties,” he said in his first comments on Sunday. The Jeddah position is critically important for India’s Ministry of External Affairs since it has the responsibility of arranging facilities for the nearly 200,000 Indians who come for Haj every year.

There are nearly three million Indians in Saudi Arabia. Of that number, a good portion is in Makkah Region where Jeddah is the main city.

A number of former diplomats posted in Jeddah have gone on to assume important diplomatic positions for India. Prominent among them are Syed Akbaruddin, who is now India’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Dr. Ausaf Sayeed who is India’s consul general in Chicago.

Talmiz Ahmad, who served as both consul general in Jeddah and as ambassador in Riyadh and who has now retired, is considered one of the most outstanding Indian authorities on Middle Eastern affairs.

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