DHAKA, 24 October 2005 — Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will leave for Saudi Arabia today to perform Umrah and offer prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.
According to official sources, Khaleda will go to Madinah first and on Oct. 27, she will proceed to Makkah to perform Umrah.
She will be accompanied by her family members.
She is scheduled to return home on Oct. 31.
UN Food Agency to Send
Biscuits to Quake Victims
The UN World Food Program in Bangladesh said yesterday that it will send 200 tons of high-energy biscuits to Pakistan for survivors of the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake.
A chartered aircraft of the WFP would deliver the biscuits over four days, with the first batch to reach Peshawar in northern Pakistan later yesterday, the agency said in a statement.
The WFP said the biscuits would come from its school feeding program in Bangladesh, an impoverished nation of 140 million people. The agency said the effort would not affect the program in Bangladesh.
The earthquake is believed to have killed at least 79,000 people in Pakistan’s portion of Kashmir. About 1,360 others died on the Indian side of the Himalayan territory.
“The response to this disaster has transcended boundaries of all sorts, and we hope that our contribution can assist the earthquake survivors,” said Edward Kallon, WFP’s Deputy Director in Bangladesh.
