ISLAMABAD: The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi, has laid the foundation stone of a mosque in Islamabad’s Fatima Jinnah Park, the UAE embassy said on Friday.
“The initiative to [fund and] construct the mosque is taken by our security officer, Nasir Khalid Al Kaabi,” the embassy’s media and political officer, Abid Al Ghafoor, said, adding that his colleague wanted the mosque named after his late father.
The Khalid Al Kaabi Mosque will be the first inside the 750-acre public park that was inaugurated in 1992.
The UAE mission in Islamabad did not give details of the design, dimensions and the covered area of the mosque, but said it planned to accelerate the construction process “so the first prayer congregation can be held there in the next two months.”
Pakistan and the UAE have always enjoyed fraternal relations. The UAE gave Pakistan $3 billion to help stave off a balance-of-payments crisis last year. The embassy in Islamabad also launched a major humanitarian campaign during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Assisted by various Emirati charity foundations, the UAE embassy has provided shelters and homes to many Pakistanis and established schools across the country.
