Indian expatriates in Saudi Arabia joined their compatriots back home and across the world to celebrate their country's 66th Independence Day yesterday. The unfurling of the national tricolor marked the ceremony. India's Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao and Consul General Faiz Ahmad Kidwai raised the national flag and read out President Pranab Mukherjee's message at the embassy in Riyadh and the consulate general in Jeddah respectively in the presence of a large number of Indian diplomats, expatriates and their families.
"It is a great privilege to address, for the first time, my fellow Indians living within our country and in a hundred corners across the globe," said President Mukherjee in his address.
"I am deeply conscious of the fact that the highest honor in our democracy does not lie in any office, but in being a citizen of India, our motherland. We are all equal children before our mother, and India asks each one of us, in whatsoever role we play in the complex drama of nation building to our duty with integrity, commitment and unflinching loyalty to the values enshrined in our constitution," he added.
"The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) should be a major instrument in the common war against terrorists. Great success is possible by international cooperation. All SAARC nations must cooperate to bring to justice those who believe in mayhem against innocents. There is no other way toward peace on the subcontinent."
The raising of the national flag by the Indian envoys was followed by the exchange of greetings by members of the community and singing of the national anthem and patriotic songs by schoolchildren. With the event falling during the holy month of Ramadan, which calls for austerity and fasting during the day, grand cultural programs and sweet distribution were avoided.
Several hundred members of the Indian community and the friends of India in Riyadh and Jeddah took part in the function at the embassy and the consulate respectively, showing their love and respect for their motherland. At least three special supplements on India were also published including the one by Arab News. Indian missions in the six Gulf states also celebrated the occasion with great fanfare.
