Pakistani community raises over QR1.3mn

Ramadan is a month of compassion and charity. The Muslims tend to give more and more charity in this month. They also get more compassionate towards the needy people.An extraordinary illustration of such altruism was seen during a recent fundraising Suhoor organised by Pakistan Welfare Forum (PWF) in co-ordination with Qatar Charity. The Pakistani expatriate community attended the event in large numbers. They managed to raise as much as QR1.342 million to support educational and welfare programmes for Pakistani community in Qatar.The Annual Suhoor gathering and fundraising event of PWF, a community welfare forum working under the patronage of the Pakistan embassy, was organised at Regency Hall in Al Hilal area.Fareed Khalil al-Siddieqy, Head of Admin Support Division Qatar Charity, was the guest of honour on the occasion. Hafiz Junaid Sial, Community Welfare Attache’ at Embassy of Pakistan, was the chief guest. A large number of professionals, businessmen as well as philanthropists from the expatriate Pakistani community participated in the event.Fareed al-Siddieqy, speaking on the occasion, appreciated the partnership between QC and PWF and informed the participants that QC is working with various communities in Qatar since long and have established a special centre to take care of deserving and destitute individuals and families. “Qatar Charity believes in providing hope and serve vulnerable communities in dignified ways by responding to their humanitarian and development needs”, Fareed added. He informed that QC has divided its works in different sections, including development projects, humanitarian assistance and sponsorship. He further disclosed that QC has spent nearly QR1.595 million on 58 beneficiaries of the Pakistani community during 2018 mainly in education and health sectors. He assured that this assistance would be continuing during the coming year as well for the benefit of deserving families.Fareed al-Siddieqy hoped that ongoing relations between QC and PWF would be strengthened and enlarged in the coming months for jointly carrying out various welfare projects for deserving families of the Pakistani community in Qatar.Tahir Mehmood, General Secretary of PWF, highlighted the forum’s background and achievements in various welfare programmes, including education, family welfare, medical and legal help for the needy. He appreciated the trust and full support of Pakistani community to PWF since its inception. He said that the strength of the forum lies in unprecedented participation of all Pakistani forums and associations and their co-operation for PWF.Ahmad Hussain, President of PWF, appreciated QC for their tremendous support, co-operation and becoming partner of PWF in carrying out various projects and initiatives that would provide tremendous opportunities to those who value social responsibility and pay back to the society to uplift the deprived segments of the communities through education.He also highlighted the establishment and functioning of The First Ihsaan School which has been launched recently for out-of-school Pakistani children in Qatar. “The school, which is first of its kind for expatriates, is owned by Ministry of Education and Education Above All (EAA). It is financially supported by Awqaf and operated by PWF to help in eradicating illiteracy.”Ahmad also unveiled PWF’s next project which is ‘Community Development Programme’ under which skill training would be offered in variety of trades to expatriate Pakistani youth both male and females helping them to become a part of skilled workforce in Qatar.Mohammed Idrees Anwar, PWF’s founder member, quoted various verses of Holy Qur’an and Ahadiths [sayings] of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for giving special care to the destitute families through zakat and sadaqa and encouraged the participants to be generous enough to become PWF members and help the needy Pakistani families. He said that PWF has managed to engage the community through consistent and committed efforts under the patronage of the Embassy of Pakistan and with exceptional co-operation of QC. He acknowledged that the community admires PWF for welfare endeavours whereas the forum pledges to reach out to those who are in need of support.The organisers called out the names of those who donated for the PWF fund. People donated from QR500 to QR200,000.Speaking on the occasion, Hafiz Junaid Sial said, “On behalf of Syed Ahsan Raza Shah, Ambassador of Pakistan, I wish you all a very happy and blessed Ramadan. This event is planned every year. The very essence of this event is based on a very strong pillar of Islam that is Muslim brotherhood and serving others. I believe PWF has been playing a pivotal role in this regard. Collaboration with QC has synergised the efforts of the forum. The recent example is opening of First Ihsan School besides other projects undertaken by PWF.”Talking to Community, Fareed al-Siddieqy said, “We have been working for development and welfare of different communities in Qatar culturally, socially, economically, educationally and medically. Such activities cannot be carried out completely by our own. We get co-operation and support from all communities living in Qatar. “The Pakistani community is one of the largest communities in Qatar. We have been working together for the development and welfare of the community. We have different kinds of projects in health and education that we support together. We both are raising funds to support different programmes.”He added, “We work for all communities. My message to them is to join hand together and work for different expatriate communities. We all are together here. We need to work together. We also appreciate the donors who generate funds for charity works in Qatar. It is very necessary to continue our projects in Qatar.”