JEDDAH, 18 September 2003 — Pakistan Ambassador Abdul Aziz Mirza has urged his compatriots to strengthen the hands of President Pervez Musharraf and his government in the ongoing nation building process.
“We’ve attained economic stability and rooted out corruption to a very large extent from society,” the ambassador said at a meeting held at the residence of acting Consul General Zahid Nasrullah Khan on Tuesday to seek contributions to the Prime Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund. The fund is meant to provide relief to the flood-affected people of Sindh and Baluchistan.
He referred to Musharraf’s recent “courageous” decisions, and said they were all in the country’s overall interest. “We must go ahead with the building of Kala Bagh and Bahsha dams because they are vital to the country,” he emphasized.
Mukarram Batterjee of Saudi German Hospital Group, who was the guest of honor, said the group’s hospitals had a multinational staff. “Pakistanis are found to be hard working, faithful, educated and professionally skilled. We’ve contributed to the fund considering it a duty and we don’t need to be thanked by the brotherly country,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the community, Shahbaz Hussain said Pakistanis in Jeddah and elsewhere in the Kingdom had always responded whenever the country faced difficult situations.
The meeting was marked by a poetry session in which Tahir Jameel, Nasim-e-Sehr, Dr. Munawwar Hashmi, Ahmed Attaullah Farrouqi and others recited their poems.
