Saudi diplomat says Indian expats held in high esteem

JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia has lambasted an English-language Indian newspaper for claiming that the Kingdom has executed more people than the Daesh terrorist group, and rejected reports that there is widespread abuse of Indian workers in this country.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in India, Dr. Saud Mohammed A. Al-Sati, said Indians, the single-largest group of expatriates working here, are held in high esteem and contributing significantly to the country’s economy across all sectors.
In his rejoinder on Monday, Al-Sati said it was “shocking” to see The Hindustan Times compare Saudi Arabia to a terrorist organization in an editorial published on Nov. 6.
In response to the newspaper’s spurious statement that “Saudi Arabia has officially sanctioned more beheadings this year than the IS (Islamic State),” Al-Sati said: “I wonder if your newspaper knows the exact number of people killed by Daesh, the biggest enemy of Islam and the enemy of humanity, as declared by my government and the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim religious leaders around the world.”
He decried the attempts by some sections of the Indian media “to portray in a mala fide manner a negative and untrue image of Saudi Arabia and the condition of Indian workers in the Kingdom.”
To suggest that the Indian community in Saudi Arabia consists mainly of “poor workers” was factually incorrect, said Al-Sati.
“My country hosts hundreds of thousands of Indian professionals, including doctors, engineers, professors, IT specialists, nurses and managers who work across a large spectrum of economic activities,” he said.
“Their well-being and contribution are acknowledged by both the Saudi and Indian governments.”
“Expatriates are not subjected to any discrimination or excesses, although some stray incident cannot be ruled out in any society. Unfortunately, these few aberrations are generalized by a section of the media, which also ignore the many positive aspects and bright side of the picture,” Al-Sati wrote.
Al-Sati said he welcomed the suggestions regarding “tighter regulation of unregistered and unregulated visa brokers, and the need to sensitize the recruiting agents about their legal obligations.”
Indian expatriates in the Kingdom have welcomed the ambassador’s remarks, with many saying that Western media agencies have generally written sensationalist reports about life in this country.
“Whatever Ambassador Al-Sati has said is a fact,” said Prashant Sharma, a longtime hospitality industry expert. “I have been living in the Kingdom for more than 15 years and have had a very pleasant experience. Indians are viewed with a lot of respect in Saudi Arabia.”
Rizwan Hakeem, from Riyadh, said a lot of negative reporting about Saudi Arabia is based on hearsay and lack of awareness.
“Indian newspapers are preoccupied with internal politics and they do not focus on Saudi Arabia the way they should. They simply publish sensational stories run by Western news agencies. And we all know those stories are mostly based on anti-Saudi rhetoric. You will rarely find a positive story about Saudis in the foreign media.”
Hakeem said the importance of Saudi-Indian ties are reflected in the fact that the 3 million Indian expatriates in the Kingdom provide the largest amount of foreign exchange to their families at home, out of all Indians living abroad.
“There is a dire need for greater and direct interaction between the Indian media and the Saudi people,” he added.