Floods in Pakistan
Attaullah Cheema
(Manchester): The press club of Pakistan UK in its continued campaign to raise funds for the Pakistani flood water victims, in collaboration with a local charity organisation “SmileAid”arranged a grand,well-attended event to raise funds for the flood-hit Pakistani victims.The family members of overseas Pakistanis, Muslim and Sikh communities of other countries, also joined the even there at the Pakistani community, centre, Manchester the other day.
Addressing the participants, the speakers maintained that a big number of Pakistani brethren have been devastated, numerous peoples have lost their lives, house hold, cattle headand, crops, whereas their houses, have been raised to ground, valuables, and crops have been swept away and fields ruined,by theflood waters in Pakistan.Consequently,flood-affected people are lying under the open sky, whereas water-bornediseases have aggravatedtheir miseries,creatingaseverecriticalsituation for them.Expressing their deep concerntheyadded that although we are thousands of miles away from Pakistan naturally our hearts beat with the samerideand feel their plight, and pain,similarly as they feel themselves.
Now the irksome situation prevailing there in Pakistan and people are suffering at the hands of claimsand now brotherhood demandsto help them and pull out from quagmireof problems, they added.
They also said that despite the help of Pakistani Govt. philanthropists, financial aid from friendly countries is comparatively insufficient to cope with the havoc of flood waters and meet the necessary needs of suffering souls. The speakers also urged the part takers to extend a strong helping hand to the flood water stricken people, as we are ethically and religiously, bound to help them.
The officer bearers of the press club Shaukat Qureshi, Syed Rizwan shah, Mehmmud Asghar Chaudhry, Ch.Nasrullah,
Shakeel Aslam, and Samina, spoke on the occasion.The women activists Razia Chaudhry, Farzana Afzal, Faiqa Gul, Zarqa Ahmed and others , who told this scribe that charity beginS at home…..and the volunteers of the Smile Aid, Muhammad Abu Bakr,within a day collected two containers ofdonations which have been dispatched to Pakistanwhilemore are in pipeline.
In the second part of the event, a cultural show was staged. A story teller Badr Khan, presented the history of Punjab, Lahore and its rulers including Maha Rajah Ranjeet Singh and other Muslim rulers,in such a traditional ancientstylethat everyone in function adored him with a big applause.
Later Badr Khan, said that he is promoting Pakistani history, culture and tourism around the world by adopting the art of storytelling as was done in old emperors, kings Darbars, he concluded.
