JEDDAH, 19 June 2007 — Pakistan’s Consul General Masood Akhtar called for more interaction among various Pakistani groups in the Kingdom so that they could play a greater role for the benefit of the community and development of the country.
Speaking at a farewell reception hosted by the Pakistan Repatriation Council in his honor yesterday, the outgoing consul general said there were certain misconceptions about the organization, which were unfounded. He said the issue of stranded Pakistanis was a humanitarian one and hoped it would be resolved soon.
He said the community should remain united leaving aside their political affiliations. Akhtar said he tried to extend all possible facilities to the members of the Pakistani community during his tenure here as the consul general.
Muhammad Jamil, press consul at the Consulate General of Pakistan said Masood Akhtar was not only the consul general, “he was like our family head.”
Editor of Urdu Magazine Rauf Tahir eulogized the services of the consul general for the welfare of the community.
PRC Convener Ehsanul Haque referring to the problems of the Pakistani community here said the validity of the remittance card should be extended from one to two years. He called for giving voting rights to Pakistani expatriates. Ehsan also spoke about the education problems of the children of Pakistani expats.
He read out some proposals that he said could help resolve the issue of stranded Pakistanis and alleviate their sufferings.
He asked the government to consider the PRC self-finance proposal that envisages the repatriation and rehabilitation of the stranded Pakistanis on self-help basis.
The proposal also urged Islamabad to advise the Pakistani high commissioner in Dhaka to look after the quarter of a million Pakistanis languishing in Bangladeshi camps until their repatriation to their home country. It called for including Bangladesh in the Rabita Trust to make the organization active and result-oriented.
