The living conditions of the stranded Pakistanis in the 66 camps of Bangladesh is declining and those living there are facing major issues of housing and an identity crisis, observed US-based Syed Jalaluddin Azimabadi, who is running OBAT Helpers in cooperation with Friends of Humanity (FoH) in Dhaka to help the quarter million community.

He was speaking at a symposium, “Stranded Pakistanis and role of Welfare Organizations,” organized by the Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) in Jeddah to honor Azimabadi for his humane services for the cause of hapless Pakistanis in Bangladesh, and who is currently visiting the Kingdom.

OBAT and FoH are working closely in the camps to facilitate basic amenities for those internally displaced in Bangladesh since 1971 war and who are living in squalid camps for the last 42 years.

Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi, a former Saudi diplomat, praised PRC for honoring those NGOs working in the camps

He commended NGOs like OBAT Helpers, FoH and others for their selfless and sustained efforts to succor those living in the camps and urged Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to urgently “restart process of their repatriation and rehabilitation.

Al-Ghamdi hoped that international organizations like MWL, OIC and IDB would come forward to extend financial help to Islamabad to support their settlement.

PRC Convener Ehsanul Haque said OBAT Helpers, FoH and Muslim Welfare and Development Organization (MWDO) are extending “great help” to the stranded Pakistanis while some major Pakistani NGOs like Eidhi Trust, Jamate Islami, PTI and Ansar Burney Trust did not come forward for any help to them.

Haque thanked IDB for the sanction of 10,000 carcasses of sacrificial goats sent every year since 1998 to them at the PRC’s request. MWL’s Secretary General Abdullah Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki also extended help via IIRO by establishing schools and clinics there, he said.

Speaking about the recent cross border firing at the Indo-Pakistan border, the PRC convener condemned the Indian Army for “unprovoked attack on Pakistani side,” which he said has killed dozens of innocent people.

Pakistan should take immediate measures to proper response and to raise the issue in the UN Security Council for a plebiscite in Kashmir for a permanent solution.

Abu Farhan Siddiqui gave presented a report card of his MWDO in the Bangladesh camps and said it is working in cooperation with FoH and OBAT Helpers to organize the charity works for those poor Pakistanis.

Mohammad Akram Agha of Pakistan Peoples Community, Mohammad Amanatullah, Urdu writer and poet Naim Bazidpuri also praised the noble work being carried by OBAT, MWDO, FoH and others for the cause of the abandoned Pakistanis.