Indian Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed called as “rubbish” the allegation leveled against him in a section of the Indian media that he put a Salman Rushdie book ad on his personal website www.ausafsayeed.com. Some Haj delegates raised the issue at the annual Haj conference in New Delhi earlier this month, prompted by a news report in the Hindi language daily Dainik Jagran. “I challenged everybody to check the website, and journalists found nothing there,” Dr. Sayeed told the Saudi Gazette, Monday. “It's a mischief to target government officials,” he said. However, he admitted that some scrupulous elements might have saved a copy of the web page when it was hosted on a free server where nobody has control on advertisements. He called it a “personal vendetta” by a journalist who came for Haj last year, and wanted to be accommodated with his father who was performing pilgrimage as a member of the Haj goodwill delegation. The Ministry of External Affairs and Dr. Sayeed also clarified that his transfer has nothing to do with this issue. Dr Sayeed, who joined Jeddah consulate as Consul General in August 2004 for a three-year tenure, was given one-year extension till first week of July this year by the ministry through a letter issued on July 16, 2007. Then another letter dated January 10, 2008, confirmed the appointment of Sayeed Ahmed Baba, a West Bengal cadre IAS officer of 1988 batch, as consul general of India, Jeddah, for a period of two years from the date of the assumption of charge. According to Dr. Sayeed, the ministry never sought any clarification from him on the issue and backed him. A ministry official was quoted by an Indian newspaper as saying that it appeared to be a politically motivated allegation. “There is no linkage of transfer with this issue,” said the outgoing consul general. The transfer had already been in the pipeline when he was given an extension last July. From that time itself the ministry had started looking for a suitable successor. However, Baba's name as successor was approved by External Affairs Minister in January this year. Another letter issued by the ministry on March 13, 2008, said that Baba would take up charge on or after July 1, 2008. Dr. Sayeed returns to the ministry headquarters in New Delhi after 14 years of service abroad, which is a rarity. __
