Rawalpindi, (Parliament Times) : Organized by Jinnah Iqbal South Asia Thinkers Forum (JISAF), the ceremony for distribution of one month ration of Ramadan to the poor and deserving families of the society was held in the Hayat Bakhsh Hall of Anjuman-e-Faiz-ul-Islam Rawalpindi in which 200 deserving families were given ration bags for the whole month of Ramadan. Ration bags were comprised on flour, sugar, ghee, tea and pulses etc.
Col (retd) Bakhtiar Hakeem was the chief guest while the Chairman of the Forum Rana Abdul Baqi besides former federal secretary Muzaffar Qureshi, president of Anjuman-e-Faiz-ul-Islam Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Punjab Bar member Sajjad Akbar Abbasi Advocate, Prof. Aqila Asif, Dr. Mrs. Sabahat Sajjad, Arsalan Akbar Abbasi, the chief organizer of the forum, and a large number of deservings were present.
Muzaffar Mehmood Qureshi paid tribute to the organizers of Jinnah Iqbal Thinkers Forum, especially Rana Abdul Baqi, and said that the forum’s efforts to help white collar families were commendable. He asked the charities and philanthropists to make it a practice to borrow money free of interest to the poor and deserving families to help them stand on their feet.
In his address, Prof. Dr. Riaz Ahmed, President of Anjuman-e-Faiz-ul-Islam, appreciated the practical efforts of JISAF for social welfare. He said that Anjuman-e-Faiz-ul-Islam is the only institution in Pakistan where more than 1100 orphans are currently benefiting from residential and educational facilities. “A number of former Faizians are performing their duties diligently and honestly in various government departments, including the Pak Army, he added. He said that to protect the inhabitants of AFI from any sense of inferiority, their residential blocks are named as “APNA GHAR” where a real home-like environment is provided to them. He further mentioned that Anjuman also has the honor of being established on the orders of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah four years before the establishment of Pakistan and in 1944 he himself visited the AFI Trunk Bazar campus and donated Rs.500/- , the receipt of which is safe in AFI’s record book.
Addressing the function, Rana Abdul Baqi, Chairman of the Forum, urged the philanthropists, especially the members of the Assembly, to put their hands in their pockets instead of looking at the government and start helping the needy. “This act of theirs can lead to poverty reduction and gradually eradicate the deprivation from our society,” he added saying that the purpose of holding this function to give rations for the month of Ramadan to the deserving people is not to show off but to motivate other people to do so in their own circles.
Col. ® Bakhtiar Hakeem and Prof. Aqeela Asif also spoke on the occasion. At the end of the ceremony 200 deserving families were given the bags of ration for the whole month of Ramadan. Special prayer was also offered for the departed souls of the founders of Pakistan, former president of Anjuman Muhammad Siddique Akbar Mian, his late wife and other deceased, besides the prosperity of the country and the nation.
