Overseas Pakistanis will maintain their tradition of standing by country in times of need: Javaid Malik

Lahore: Pakistan’s Ambassador at Large, Javaid Malik has said that overseas Pakistanis living in UAE and the Gulf region will maintain their tradition of always standing by their country of origin in times of need.

He was addressing a community meeting of Overseas Pakistani businessmen and professionals in Dubai as part of his efforts to mobilize the community in UAE and the Gulf region so that a strategy can be evolved to extend support to the victims of floods in Pakistan.

During a meeting with affluent Pakistani businessmen and professionals Ambassador Javed Malik also briefed them about the devastation caused by massive flooding in various parts of Pakistan, and also apprised them on the various efforts being undertaken by the Federal and Provincial governments to provide relief to the victims.   He said that scale of flooding in some areas was unprecedented and has caused immense destruction, however it was encouraging to see that the government, the armed forces, the local district administration, as well as humanitarian organizations were working together in coordination to mobilize all available resources to ensure that the flood victims are rescued and rehabilitated.

Outlining the short term and the long term strategies being planned by the government, Ambassador Javed Malik said that while the immediate priority is to rescue people and relocate them to safe locations where they can be provided food and shelter through relief camps, however the government fully understands that this interim solution and in the long run the government would aim to provide financial assistance to the victims to enable them to reconstruct their houses that have been destroyed by floods.

He called upon the overseas Pakistani community that in this time of need all Pakistanis must unite irrespective of political differences and work together towards relief efforts on humanitarian grounds and said that efforts to raise awareness on the plight of the flood victims are underway,  “Our campaign focuses on the humanitarian aspect and to raise awareness about the plight of the flood victims in Pakistan. For reasons of transparency, we do not collect funds at our end and have encouraged to support the official Prime Minister Flood Relief fund 2014 directly.

Ambassador Javed Malik also expressed his appreciation to the President, Prime Minister and the people of United Arab Emirates for their efforts to provide relief to flood victims through the UAE Project to Assist Pakistan,( UAE PAP) which has already started their activities and have distributed over 40,000 food baskets, thousands of tents while other efforts are ongoing.